October 11, 2008

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Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis is accusing John McCain and Sarah Palin of stoking hate, likening the atmosphere at Republican campaign events to those featuring George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama and presidential candidate. McCain's campaign has responded with a statement in the candidate's name, urging Barack Obama to repudiate Lewis's comments.

"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history," Lewis said in a statement issued today for Politico's Arena forum. "Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."

Lewis didn't accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb," Lewis noted. "He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

Lewis's sharp words may be dismissed as those of a partisan Democrat in a campaign season. But the former head of SNCC and hero of Selma is somebody who McCain has lavished praise upon over the years, including admiring him in a book on courage and bravery and repeatedly invoking Lewis's name in public appearances.

Appearing with Barack Obama at a forum at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in August, McCain included Lewis as one of "three wise men" he would consult as president.

"He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than our self-interest," McCain said of Lewis.

Now, Lewis is castigating McCain in the harshest of terms.

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all," Lewis said today. "They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

McCain responded with disappointment, but also a challenge to Obama.

"I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track," the GOP nominee said in a statement this afternoon.

He added: "I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.”

Obama's campaign distanced themselves from Lewis's Wallace language but took a shot at Palin for some of her tough charges of late.

“Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’

"As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead,”

He is absolutely right! McCain/Palin are invoking the politics of fear and hate! They pander to the lowest elements of our society, the racists, bigots, ignorant. They are inciting violence, this is the lowest form of sleazy politics. In Palins case in particular it's the pot calling the kettle black, she's a hypocrite and a liar and ethically challenged. McCain has lost his integrity completely, talk about blind ambition, these two have it!

You are absolutely right, Mr. Lewis! America is already in the heat of two wars, threatening economy, and financial losses from all spectrum of society! McCain and Palin are definitely not "presidential" materia. They have proven how radical and self-centered their ambitions grasping to cultivate and force their own idealogy by winning the highest positions in America to carry out personal agendas. This must not be allowed to happen. McCain and Palin should just concede while ahead of an embarrassing outcome come Nov. 4....

Everyone has the same thought, but no one wants to say it. The word that will not write or speak itself--all this hate could lead people to do somthing very, very terrible and traumatic for the country.

I just hope, when all this is over, the people who criticized McCain will not let bygones be bygones. He has approved some really dreadful things in this campaign. He is leading the Republicans into a likely roaring defeat, but I fear the defeated will not be resigned or looking to build a new peace, but find comfort as victims of a great wrong. So much damage has been done. John McCain must be remembered as accountable for it.
Oh, and cry for me, Argentina. I'm lonely.

Palin doesnt care..Shes toast anyway and is known to be a racist in Alaska. McStupid is willing to destroy his reputation to win a few more votes. This racial tone will destroy him also..Too bad for America.

these repulican will say and do anything to steal another election. palin is a racists, and americans should see this woman fo she is, also obama should look into this woman background real good. sara palin is supporting terrorism, palin has mutal funds in sudan, a country who suppose terrorist. after been caught, she said she did not know, whata liar this woman is.

Palin does have an atavistic appeal, using the same kind of nativist rhetoric Limbaugh uses daily. George Wallace got fairly far with his brand of white trash populism, Palin may go further if she can become the new face of the Republican base.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Thank you. If you're a Jew, ask your grandparents what these rallies remind them of. It's not only the black civil rights movement. If you have family that lived in Russia during the purges. This incitement, this scapegoating, this is not acceptable. The people on these blogs who don't get it are very sad and small-minded, and they don't understand the fire they are playing with. It's a match that has blown up the world before.

Lewis is right-the Republican nominees are playing with fire. The divisive tactics of McCain and his running mate Palin frighten me--alot! Obviously America and the world needs leaders who will bring us together. Seems to me though that many have learned nothing from history, and as the saying goes: "those who do not remember history (or deny it)are condemned to repeat it." Do we really want a bloody rehash of the past 70 or so years, as indeed of the entire history of mankind, with all of its racial and religious strife, assasinations, and wholesale slaughter of people who many demonized? I have lived tbrough these evils once, and hope to God I never do so again.

As a female, a republican, I am disappointed with McCain. It was evident when he selected governor Palin that it was all about him, and not about the country, hence the American people. At that point, I and most of my friends jumped ship and decided to vote democratic, and to try and persuade our friends and family to do so. This last week's events have been shocking, to see mobs of hate mongers yelling destruction at a presidential candidate has be absolutely shocking. Gov. Palin stoked and fueled the hateful atmosphere to a level that is embarassing for a democracy! These are scenes we expect to see in struggling developing countries. What has become evident is that the cross over to the Obama/Biden ticket will be larger that previously expected. More and more people I know have decided this hate is more than they can stomach. Mr. Lewis is right, this is dangerous and it has no place in a democracy. Sentor Obama can bring Americans together, Sentor McCain has proved that he cannot. The mobs of hate must stop.

Thank you Congressman Lewis. Perhaps, Sen. McCain will start listening not only to you but to the many high ranking moderate Republicans and Conservatives, leaders of both Parties who are calling him and his running mate out for their despicable behavior.

Nona-- Don't let the media and the Dems whip you into fear because about 5 people at a republican event were rude and said some racist things. Just calm down and look at the feacts. Obama has a limited government record and some questionable associations. It is completly fair to question what he really believes. Do I believe he is going to bomb buildings? No. Do I think he wants to change a America in a direction that I am not comfortable. Yes.

True Americans wouldn't want McCain-Palin to go to Washington to wreck it even further with their bad ideas of reform! They would fill the place with unqualified cronies, just like Palin, and no separation between churches and states and abuse their power the way Palin is doing now in Alaska. If her records don't send a chill down your back, you don't pay attention to what Cheney-Bush are doing in the last 8 years.

Mr. Lewis is right. It is a bad witches brew: The fear-mongering, lies and smears by McCain and Palin with language that incites hate, more hate, and deep prejudices. This is further exacerbated by the economic crisis and people are personally touched and scared. This is not a recipe for peaceful outcome or good.

Finally leaders on both sides of the aisle are speaking out publically about the McCain/Palin recent ugly tactics. Many of us citizens have been thinking this right from the start. That what McCain was doing was extremely serious and dangerous. Frankly I was shocked McCain would ever start down that path.

All that McCain and Palin have left is fear and hate. No discussion of the issues facing our country, just that last gasp of hope that by taking this road will they end up at the WH. Unfortunately for thme they are being called out for their actions by everyone. No one is being fooled by their actions. They are preaching to the choir but no one else is liking it. And as far as questionable associations, Palin and McCain have far more than Obama. Obama has taken the high road but if they persist with the Ayers attacks now including swipes at Michelle, all hell will break lose with AIP, witch doctors, nutty and racist ministers, keating 5 and ciny Mc long time association with keating, Palin use of gov money to fund religious causes, etc. Also McCain's affiliation with far right groups. They are on shaky ground.

Perhaps Mr. Lewis would like to comment on the Obama edict to 'get in their faces and argue.'
Sounds like inciting violence to me...
I've not heard one 'attack' on Obama that is not true, which people could verify if they really did their homework. As for 'overly enthusiastic' (as Obama calls his rude supporters), I can well imagine those in Palin/McCain's rallies were Democrat plants. As least McCain had the decency to tell them to be respectful. What has Obama said to his?
Answer: 'Get in their faces and argue.'

This is ridiculous. The "you are a racist" finger pointing that has been going on since the Democratic primaries is a big factor in my decision to vote for McCain.
I haven't voted for a Republican since Bush I, but I'm looking forward to sticking my finger in the eye of folks like Lewis and his media friends who smear Americans that disagree on the issues, not skin color, as racists.

This is the most absurd article I've read in recent weeks! Mr Obama has played the race card against Senator Clinton way back in the South Carolina primaries! He is the one to start all this divisiveness and hate.
He has more baggage than United Airlines and you continue to dismiss his ties to corruption and terrorists. You refuse to acknowledge his lies and arrogance.
This PUMA will be voting for McCain/Palin! It is my bet that most Americans see through this unprofessionalism in journalism....where one candidate
is coddled while the other is bashed.
ENOUGH!

John Lewis needs to get a grip and stop scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's thanks to the vulgar, desperate race-baiting he and his like propagate that drove me to be a registered Republican. Newsflash for John Lewis - as long as you are a Democrat, you will ALWAYS be a slave!

Yikes, so it's officially considered racist to address anything that could be considered negative about Obama. This is sickening. People that fought long and hard for the civil rights movement are now selling out to try and intimidate people into not speaking the truth about Obama. Don't speak the truth or you'll be labeled a racist, this is what an Obama election has gotten us to. I wonder where an Obama presidency will take us?

Gosh! I am old enough to remember both Congressman Lewis' heroism and sacrifice as well as McCain's. If McCain's POW status is relevant, why isn't Lewis'? I see such hate in these blogs. And I suppose these folks call themselves Christians. Very sad. I feel sorry for their souls. We should try to live by good, loving principles, not those that darken our souls with hate. Shame on you for your hateful remarks. BTW, I am a Caucasion grandmother, one who wants a better world for her grandchildren - not one filled with hate. I am an Obama/Biden supporter because I believe they are best suited to lead the country through troubled times.

This is ridiculous. The "you are a racist" finger pointing that has been going on since the Democratic primaries is a big factor in my decision to vote for McCain.
I haven't voted for a Republican since Bush I, but I'm looking forward to sticking my finger in the eye of folks like Lewis and his media friends who smear Americans that disagree on the issues, not skin color, as racists.

"I can only hope that someone from the GOP will also speak out about the tone of the McCain/Palin campaign." (posted by CE). Actually several days ago Michelle Laxalt, a GOP strategist, openly criticized McCain smear tactics on Larry King Live.

POOR NANCY calling Democrats RATS!
WOw, you're talking about other Americans.
So what about ReTHUGnicans, or neoCONS, or RePUGNICANS, hey how about John
McLame
McSame
McInsane
McBush
John Bush
Is that enough Nancy. YOU VOTED FOR BUSH TWICE, AGAINST YOUR OWN ECONOMIC BEST INTERESTS. JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU, THE GOP CAN ALWAYS RELY ON THE UNEDUCATED, IGNORANT AND MISERABLE, TO GOTV!
AND THE MASS OF FOOLS DO JUST THAT!

This is the race card? This is the CIVIL card.
You've got the campaign impugning the patriotism of the opposition, smearing the press as "in the tank" because they report, teams dispatched to disenfranchise numbers of voters, smears on groups trying to get people to register, denunciation of the laws, leaders ignoring subpoenas, telling people Obama's a Communist, a terrorist, a secret Muslim, he's going to take their guns away, and as the economy is tanking, telling people that if the majority votes a certain way, it will be a totally illegitimate election, a victory for our enemies.
Ronald Reagan's party. Patriotism trumps the laws of the land. Load your guns.
Aren't there ANY responsible conservatives, ANY responsible Republicans anymore? Did ALL the adults leave?
It isn't the RACE card. It's that CIVIL discourse is gone, the rule of law is gone (golly because the law is so gosh darned partisan), and your leaders smile when the crowd yells "Kill him, kill him!" and tell us the rest of us aren't "real" Americans with "real" American values.

I certainly take issue with the congressman and his comments. When a candidate for office attempts to be less than totally open on past associations and friendships his wounds appear to me to be self inflicted. I take great offence when his campaign donates money to an ACORN affliate and then attempts to disguise why the money was given this needs to be thoughly sanitzed and the true issues brought to the voting public and let the voters decide. Being a friend of a former terroist is not the issue the issue is the fact that Mr. Obama has been less than truthful about his associations with this person. When I see such deceitful half truths then I must question his honestly, judgement, and ethics. I hope that Senator McCain and Governor Palin continue to bring to forefront these kind of issues the citizens have a right to know the whole story. Now the Acorn mess and the $800,000.0 plus that his camp has donated to this fraudlent acting group! and the campagin attempting a cover up no way hosea Go Senator McCain and Governor Palin the american have a right to know the real truth!!!

I could not agree more. The rhetoric of Republican campaign has become painfully racist and divisive. McCain and Palin by fueling the worst hidden racists feelings and prejudices of their electorate are trying very hard to portray Obama consequently black community as scary untrustworthy incapable. I would like to remind them this is 2008 and this is a political candidate of a political party supported by millions, respected and endorsed by the best and illustrious minds of our country and the world, and you dare look down on him like an unworthy person call him a terrorist and "that man". Their behavior is unacceptable.
Even trying to portray Ayers as a terrorist is ludicrous, in 1997 Ayers was elected the most influential citizen of Chicago!!!! He serves in several boards and he is a college professor. If the society says the man is redeemed and he can be part of the society as a functioning member, what was Obama to do,was he to refuse serving in the same board with Ayers and/or ask for his removal when the man is elected the best citizen?????
McCain was a spoiled rich brat who was never responsible for his actions who competed with his father and grand father and knew he could never be at their "hauteur" a complexe of inferiority that gnawed him all his life and made him envy intelligent man, because he knows he is an imbecile himself who was just born with a silverspoon. He is an angry coward, hypocrite,opportunist, intellectually and mentally unfit and unstable to be MY president. I will not even waste my time on Palin, she is unworthy for me to even think or talk about her. Life is too short for banalities like her.
If the Republicans do not steal this election and if we do not rid ourselves of their policies, I am afraid we will not only have the same policies that ruined our economy but much worse, end of our civil rights and civil liberties!!!

In later life George Wallace admitted that he never believed in his own racist rhetoric; he just said those things to win elections...and as John Lewis reminds us, people died because of that callous ambition. John McCain admitted that he claimed to support the use of the confederate flag, even thought he really didn't, to win the 2000 South Carolina primary. He also apologized for repeatedly voting against MLK day for political expedience.
No doubt, after he loses the election, we will hear another mea culpa from John McCain about this not-so-subtle hate-pandering,neo-McCarthyism, and fearmongering. Nut if John McCain were a true man of honor, we would hear it now (without a return to the same rhetoric the next day) before real harm comes from his words.

Mr Lewis is correct, as are all the Dems and Repugs who have stated the same. And please, don't waste your breathe by telling me that the Dems are playing the race card. If you can't recognize racism, it's only because you're a racist. I've been around a long time and I've seen and heard things that have all come back with the hateful rhetoric coming from the McCain camp. And don't waste your breathe telling me that the Obama camp is doing the same because there is no comparison and only a moron or worse could not tell the difference. This is not Nazi Germany or Birmingham 1960, but it sure sounds like it. The people in this country should hang their heads in shame.

That's funny Mr Lewis. I was just going to say that what I've been seeing from Obama lately makes me think of George Wallace as well. Perhaps foul old Mr. Wallace has been reincarnated as the new Mr. Obama?
Mr. Obama, with the help of people like you and the media is promoting race riots nationwide. Now that's change you can bank on. Sad but true.
PUMA! Democrats, it's time to take our party away from Obama before he destroys it completely.

Wallace was democrat. The KKK was born of the democrat party. Democrats fought hard against civil rights. There's a democrat senator, an ex KKK member, who occasionally slips up and calls blacks by the "n" word. He gets a pass. Maybe because he's senile? In this election process every time race is brought up it's by democrats.

Mr Lewis is correct, as are all the Dems and Repugs who have stated the same. And please, don't waste your breathe by telling me that the Dems are playing the race card. If you can't recognize racism, it's only because you're a racist. I've been around a long time and I've seen and heard things that have all come back with the hateful rhetoric coming from the McCain camp. And don't waste your breathe telling me that the Obama camp is doing the same because there is no comparison and only a moron or worse could not tell the difference. This is not Nazi Germany or Birmingham 1960, but it sure sounds like it. The people in this country should hang their heads in shame.

As a recipient of racist injustices that can be traced back to the roots of slavery and oppression (I am a descendant of both African American and Native American heritage), I can personally enlightened you to the reality that what Mr. Lewis is stating is not as a democrat but as a human being ....just as I would not hesitate to defend the rights of a Jew because I know the legacy of bigotry and small minded men and women who seeks to dehumanize their fellow species...to justify the most heinous acts that can be perpetrated upon other men and women based on their ethnicity.
This is serious because this is a historical election and the fact that Obama is half African can not be erased from the element of calculation that has include this into the equation as to why he is "unacceptable" to those who can not rise above the beggarly thoughts that of racism has held them hostage to the degree that they can not even acknowledge this "condition" within theirselves. McCain rally looked like a throw back from the sixties during the most violent times of our history where there was the assassinations of great men and hatred could be traced back to the seed that produced the reprehensive actions. Racism is alive and well in this country and it is the same identical hatred that led to those little girls who were not allowed to live because someone had reduced them to a non-human status and bombed their church all in the name of superiority. This is a dangerous element like cancer to the human dignity when anyone will stoop so low to hate their fellow human being over the color of their skin and blind their hearts and mind to being disconnected which breeds a kind of "human" that is no longer human and has lost all sense of reasoning. McCain and Palin both need to examine their strategy with diligence for Palin continually portrays herself as a Christian and I too, as a Christian will challenge her ....WHO IS YOUR GOD? For all Christians are called to a higher standard of existence...that goes beyond sheer ambition and idolatry and the mentality that anything goes as long as the objective is obtained. I am a Christian FIRST before I am an African American, Native American, Woman for all other things must take second place and the dominating force in my life is Christ and I can not see myself spewing out reckless hatred for any job position and lying and misrepresenting facts ...just to win what? An election? Is is worth that much to her...that is surpassed her relationship to Christ of which SHE proclaims to have? Or perhaps Christ is simply a means to an end and is something she does on Sunday...and then the rest of the time she invest in tactics and strategies that is diabolically opposes all that is Christ. Food for thought.

Rachel Maddow and keith Olbermann have said the same things about the McCainPalin Hate Talk Express,.
I lived through the sixties and seeing those supporters at their rallies scared me,the talk was full of hate and contempt. sickening, and now how do they shut it off, they can't, someone will be hurt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us

Anyone, and that would include "I E Democrat," who can say that criticism of the rallies led by Governor Palin in Wisconsin and Pennsylvannia is "raising the race card" must not have looked at the videos and footage of those frightening, provocoative, hate-driven events. Lewis is absolutely right. I say the videos and I thought of Wallace well before Lewis made his statement.
Don't pull the "race card" line, it's another Rove/Republican piece of propaganda. Palen deserves criticism; McCain should have reigned her and this kind of demagoguery in a long time ago.

At the Saddleback Faith Forum, McCain cited Congressman John Lewis as one of three people whom he would turn to for advice and wisdom. Hopefully, this sage advice will turn him around from his path to nowhere.

Now I'm hearing the McCain camp is telling Obama to repudiate Lewis?
Listen...when someone you supposedly respect enough to out in your "Three Wise men" has essentially a heart to heart with you, telling you what you're doing is destructive and hurtful, you don't demonize that person.

To John McCain: start watching the cable networks and network TV. Then be outraged. Your rallies have been frightening many of us. I think of, "Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
McCain may have avoided directly inciting fear and hatred, but he's allowing his campaign and surrogates to. He's the one who needs to apologize.

We in the USA today, more than ever, need more and more people like Congressman John Lewis who has the courage and wisdom to dish out and pour out what is already boiling dangerously inside the kettle of our country. We must back up and stop it now before it's too late. I fear for our country and it's innocent people. It's been proven, Mccain and Palin have no limits.

suzyku's comments are right on-- "McCain & Palin pander to the lowest elements of our society, the racists, bigots, ignorant. They are inciting violence, this is the lowest form of sleazy politics"--and I E Democrat's posting proves it! Obama a Marxist? Oh, please. Do you even know what a Marxist is? Go back to school, I E, or at least consult wikipedia. If I E regards Barack Obama's concern with economic inequality as evidence of marxism, then I guess Jesus Christ was a marxist before Karl Marx. (I E: Karl Marx is the German philosopher who studied and wrote about the mechanisms of capitalism. He wrote several important works, which you can find at your local library or bookstore.)

Please now people. We are seeing an America that I never envisioned. We must not let hate blind us no matter who wins or loses.
For those who want to attack Lewis he has been there folks. He is saying this has to stop because history will repeat itself.
We are not blind. We know whackos are out there and they need to stop lighting this damn fire. We love America as well and hate and dividing the country will and can cause harm.
Stop the madness now.

McCain is not electable, he is racist and by choosing PALIN is an insult to WOMEN
PALIN is for ROE V WADE
MCCAIN have NO CLUE, NO VISION
MCCAIN/PALIN would hurt more WOMEN than help, he have no MORAL and ETHICAL VALUE, MCCAIN is a HATEFUL
MAN, PALIN made a skeptical of BRISTOL and her MAN
MCCAIN ticket lack of health care, economy and our SONS and DAUGHTERS fighting an unjustified war
MCCAIN HAVE NO EXPERIENCE, HE WAS NEVER A PRESIDENT, DON'T BE SO NAIVE RACIST PEOPLE
PALIN HAVE NO MORE EXPERIENCE THAN OBAMA,AND SHE IS NO COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
OBAMA MANAGES 300 PEOPLE IN HIS CAMPAIGN, INTELLIGENT, GOOD JUDGEMENT,CAPABLE AND INSPIRING, HE HAVE THE MORAL AND ETHICAL VALUE
TO BE COMMANDER IN CHIEF
WELL SAID, VOTE OBAMA VOTE OBAMA

How sad. we have such pitiful leadership to choose from at such an important time in our history. On the one hand we have a man who lies about his own friends and background in order to achieve political gain. Someone who attended a racist black church for twenty years but doesn't seem to remember a single thing the preacher said. Didn't know the man's history that held his first Republican fund-raiser (Bill Ayers, the Timothy McVay of the 60's and 70's). Please, just admit you are a socialist/marxist and let's at least be honest about our choice.
Then we have John McCain an honorable American hero who has chosen totally incompetent Washington insiders to run his campaign. I suggest we all pray because our nation is going to need it in the next few years. We certainly aren't going to have any leadership that makes us stronger. The American people and their goodness and hard-work are our only hope. Hopefully we will overcome in spite of Washington and our empty headed celebrities and media talking heads. If we do it certainly won't be because of anything our government has done right.

I'm happy Lewis spoke out, I feel the same way. Hate is something you cannot contain and it grows like a cancer. I was so upset by the fear and hate incited by McCain/Palin and their surrogates, sickened by the crowds reaction it
sounded more a lynch mob, then a rally. On Thurs. I emailed Gov Corzine,Gov Crist and Gov Randell, expressing my concerns about the incitement of fear and hate by the McCain campaign I'm 59 W/F, and I have seen how dangerous and destructive hate can be.
McCain is such an foolish man wallowing in what he believes to be respect and admiration, he is attracting the crazies, the hate mongers the misfits and now he is the leader of that group. I suggest McCain spent the next 3 weeks cleaning up his hate and fear messages.

Pollster.com links to the following amazing comment, allegedly from John McCain. I think this goes beyond anything that Saturday Night Live could trump up.
http://www.politicshome.com/usa/Landing.aspx?Blog=3717&perma=link
McCain: Obama should repudiate "brazen and baseless attack"
Senator John McCain today issued the following statement:
"Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign.
"I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track."
"I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America."

Can you all please explain to me how Obama is responsible for playing the race card when people at the McCain/Palin are yelling racial epithats and threatening Obama? Obama hasn't even said anything about it until he thanked McCain for setting an old crow right when she called him an Arab. You people are a joke. This whole 'race card' issue is a joke. You don't think its disturbing that most people (not 1,2, 3, or 4) coming out of McCain and Palin rally's are saying stuff like Obama is a terrorist? Kill him? Treason? Just like McCain finally got the balls to say, two candidates can respectively disagree on issues, but Obama is a decent man. The MOST decent man to run for office in the past few decades, in fact. If you look in the mirror and ask yourselves why you really don't like him, it has nothing to do with issues. It has everything to do with your own internal fear of what you've been taught, and what the media has fed you about minorities. WAKE UP and smell the coffee. Smells like an Obama win!

I know it's a legitimate question if Obama can attract enough white votes across the country to win. I understand why it's asked and why it's a concern of the Obama campaign whether they address it directly or not.
But for the life of me and it's rapidly becoming an increasing point of frustration for me, I don't understand why no one in the media raises the very obvious point that when you look at a typical McCain/Palin rally, no matter what part of the country they're in, it looks like they're running for the presidency of "white America" and not the entire, multi-racially and culturally diverse nation that we are in the year 2008. I mean, change the fashions and hair styles and a McCain/Palin rally looks like an episode of "Happy Days"! And it's not just an "Obama thing"; Hillary Clinton's supporters were a diverse group too.
Why doesn't anyone in the media ever ask Senator McCain, "Does it bother you at all that at a time when our nation has never been more culturally and ethnically diverse, that you and Governor Palin are only seen speaking before virtually all-white audiences?" I don't know about you but I'd sure love to hear what his response would be.

AMEN TO THAT!
THIS DISCRIBES McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN MESSAGE TO A TEE.
I JUST WISH LEWIS HAD WENT ONE STEP FARTHER AND CALLED FOR McCAIN'S CAMPATGN TO END!
McCAIN NOW TRYING TO CALM CROWDS WHILE HIS ADS & PALIN ARE STILL PROMOTING THE HATE FILLED MESSAGE ONLY SHOWS McCAIN TO BE EVN MORE OF A LIAR THAN MOST PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY COME TO LEARN ABOUT HIM.
WE DO NOT NEED McCAIN OR PALIN!

John Lewis, and other democrats cry race card, and other accusations, in response to appropriate inquiries and challenges to Obama's qualifications and background. Why should we continue to keep giving Obama a free pass (like the media does) .

Senator McCain wanted Senator Obama to repudiate John Lewis. I would like Senator McCain to walk a mile in Representative Lewis's shoes before he talks about racial divisiveness.
Senator McCain, why did you not repudiate George Bush when his machine attacked as un-American, the Senator who had lost both legs and an arm during the Viet Nam war? Senator, why are you still producing ads that are stirring white people up racially? Senator, why do you continue to produce ads that are half trues and inuendoes borderint on lies?
This rhetoric that both you and Sara Palin have been expounding, is very dangerous and the hate filled comments at your rallies demonstrate this. Listen well to Representative Lewis's words and do the right thing.

An historical note: Yes, Wallace was a Democrat, and yes, the south used to be full of white racist Democrats, but they all became white racist Republicans when LBJ signed the civil rights act (that's why the South switched from all-blue to all-red almost overnight).
That said, no party has a monopoly on idiots nor on bigots. But no one can deny that Obama appeals to Americans' higher angels--even McCain has called his speaches inspirational. People leave Obama's rallies, not filled with hatred, but filled with--you guessed it--hope.
Likewise, no one can watch the footage of the McCain-Palin rallies, nor listen to their allies on talk radio, and not realize that the McCain campaign is scraping the bottom of the barrel, sowing division, suspicion, and paranoia, to try to eek out a win. Don't let John McCain turn back the progress we have made as a nation.

We in the USA today, more than ever, need more and more people like Congressman John Lewis who has the courage and wisdom to dish out and pour out what is already boiling dangerously inside the kettle of our country. We must back up and stop it now before it's too late. I fear for our country and it's innocent people. It's been proven, Mccain and Palin have no limits.

I'm grateful to Congressman Lewis for speaking up. Not nearly enough political and national figures are speaking out against the McCain-Palin ticket's reprehensible and dangerous campaign tactics. This is becoming one of the bleakest months in our recent history -- certainly in my own lifetime. And since McCain and Palin have no shame, and the media are serving as little more than an infomercial to their agenda, it is up to the good people of this country to return the voice of conscience, tolerance and humanity to our national stage. There are some histories that are too horrible ever, ever risk repeating. Thank you Congressman Lewis. You speak for so many of us, whose voices can't carry nearly the weight of yours.

Why should Senator Obama apologize to McShame & Company for what Mr. Lewis stated? He spoke the truth! For the past week, McShame/Palin spread seeds of hatred for Senator Obama. It was vicious, mean-spirited, and dangerous! Although it may appear that he and the vixen have calmed the mob down, there are still crazies out there that still hear what he and Palin espoused during this week at their "KKK" rallies. I am going to write to Mr. Lewis and thank him graciously.
Obama/Biden '08

becca - your ignorance is showing. it matter little what party George Wallace was from - democrat or republican he was a BIGOT AND RACIST and so is MCCAIN and PALIN. You wanna throw character grenades? Don't whine when the boomerang hits you between the eyes

As soon as Palin joined him and they starting hyping hockey moms and Joe Sixpacks they established their separatists and polarizing stance. They are not even trying to deny that they are playing to their base and not the true melting pot that is America. Now they are even give stump speeches that whip their supporters into a frenzy and then try to blame it on their opponent.
Geez they are such a bunch of hypocrites.
Lewis is right. But McCain is trying to be cry - Don't Shoot the Messenger. This is like Wallace iin that the messenger is responsible for the message and how it is acted upon

You don't want to ignite the extremes of the two parties. That indeed is playing with fire. It doesn't matter where it starts. Any conflagration would ignite a lot of pent up fear and anger on both sides. It is the leaders who should tamp this thing down now. Once it gets out of hand, it is too late to retract what has been said and done that ignited it.

Becky, you're not to bright. You say you haven't voted for a Republican since Bush. You do know he is still in office and that would be just four years ago. I know it seems like a lifetime because he has brought our beautiful country to its knees. The fact is McCain/Palin crowds are out of hand and even McCain had to speak on it and called Obama a decent man!

Mr. Lewis is correct the McCain campaign has crossed a dangerous line which it appears they were unaware of until yesterday. The rhetoric they've spewed the past week enflames the the underlying hate that unfortunately exists. What is most frightening is that the republicans have seemed to have put a match to this on purpose.

I hope Obama doesn't repudiate Lewis' comments because he is absolutely 100 percent right. John McCain and Sarah Palin have been inciting anger and hate at their rallies and its' very dangerous.
It's about time McCain takes some responsibility for his own words and actions instead of blaming everyone else.

McCain and Palin
Crystal water turns to dark
Where ere it's presence leaves it's mark
And boiling currents pound like drums
When something wicked this way comes...
A presence dark invades the fair
And gives the horses ample scare
Chaos rains and panic fills the air
When something wicked this way comes...
Ill winds mark it's fearsome flight,
And autumn branches creak with fright.
The landscape turns to ashen crumbs,
When something wicked this way comes...
Flowers bloom as black as night
Removing color from your sight
Nightmarish vines block your way
Thorns reach out to catch their prey
And by the *****ing of your thumbs
Realize that their poison numbs
From frightful blooms, rank odors seep
Bats & beasties fly & creep
'Cross this evil land, ill winds blow
Despite the darkness, mushrooms glow
All will rot & decompose
For something wicked this way grows...

John McCain didn't acknowledge that he has trouble talking over the negative cries at his rallies and won't admit that he can't control a mob. If he continues his negative, unsubstantive attacks, he and his campaign will be totally responsible for any violence which occurs. He should stop this thing while he can.

Let me get this straight. It's O.K. for John McCain and Sarah Palin (the Sweeney McTodd and Mrs. Lovett of American political discourse) to defame and excoriate Obama over "non-issues" and inflame the passions of their supporters using demagogic language. It's not O.K. for John Lewis to take them to task for their noising abroad of political vitriol. There's an inherent hypocrisy here that seems to say, "negativity is o.k., even called for, if you're a Republican. I remember George Wallace, Strom Thurmond and Joun Stennis in their heyday. The comparison to George Wallace is apt. My heart "bleeds" for the afflictors who have now become the afflicted. Neither Lewis nor Obama need apologise.

Its laughable that McCain is offended at being chastised by John Lewis who endured beatings, dog attacks and fire hose sprayings. McCain shows his 72 years of living - by stocking racism while ignoring his own ties to Miami's Luis Posada Carriles, John Singalaub, Gordon Liddy, Keating 5 and Cindy McCain's continued dealings with Charles Keating.

Mr. Lewis right. And McCain knows this, as he tried to step back a bit yesterday. He knows his campaign is going in the wrong direction.
McCain's campaign seems hopelessly out of date. No one wants to go in the direction they are headed in. The polls are increasingly showing that. And the reason the Independents are breaking for Obama is because of the ugliness of McCain's campaign.
Let's face it, this nation has become and will continue to become more and more diverse. The Democrats are winning because their party reflects that, while the GOP DOES NOT. The GOP is becoming the party of the past.

Lewis is RIGGT and you all KNOW it! McCain and Palin have started something horrible and nasty!
Their rally's have become KKK and hate rally's! Obama is no muslim and he is AMERICAN.
From where I stand - every racist can kiss my black ASS!

The only persons that needs to apologize is John McCain and Sarah Palin. How dare them go before those uneducated people inciting violence. John McCain and Palin knew exactly what they were doing. McCain told everyone he wanted to have a fair election and he would not use dirty tactics. Well obviously John McCain is a big liar. More of the Republicans need to speak out against McCain and Palin. McCain better be careful because he may have to return to the Senate and Lieberman might be his only friend.

I agree 100% with Congressman Lewis. McCain and Palin have been out in my opinion insighting people to riot in some instances. They are yelling, terroist,traitor, and one man yelled kill him, referring to Senator Obama. It only takes one kook to set things off.
Obama/Biden 2008-2016

Thank you Mr. Lewis for having the courage to speak with many, many, others know in their hearts and the thought that lingers in their minds everyday since McCain/Palin has started to venture of hate.
Many right wings, faux christians come here talking about the Dems playing the race card but failing to open their eyes and look at history, as it speaks for itself.
This is all about hate for those that do not look like you and that is the subliminal message Palin is pushing, the right knows this. This is why some of the right's top officials have come out against McCain on this. So, my question to those here that say the Dems are playing the race card, exactly what card is your top officials playing when they feel the same way about what is happening in the McCain camp?
My guess is that you know the truth but since you have to protect your party at all cost, even going against Jesus himself, you will do it every time! You are not righteous, you are not real christians, you are nothing more than a bunch of Identity theives that have stolen Jesus' name and ruining his credit where ever you go.
Thanks again Mr. Lewis, you know the real truth and you have experienced what many of us can only imagine in our minds.

I use to think that Politico had some integrity but i found the whole tenure of this article inflammatory and disrespectful to Congressmen Lewis. The McCain Campaign lies so much that we have ceased to listen them and their infantile propaganda and hate building hypocrisy its has become sickening. Ms.Palin appears to incite anarchy and rioting at their rallies. They appear much more a threat to democracy and common decently than any militant group that came along during the sixties. Their rhetoric appears strikingly close to Alaskan independent party as though we live in nation in which people of dissenting views cannot co-flourish. It appears to bespeak that militant anti ?American philosophy and is reminiscent of Ruby Ridge, skinheads and neo Nazi ideology. Lewis comment was not inflammatory it asks for an end to inflammatory rhetoric! His point is that we will have function as a people after Nov.4th so we must not destroy that prospect now.

THESE EVENTS ARE NOT CALLING FOR REFORM; THEY ARE CULTIVATING/ENCOURAGING HATE, RACISM AND EVEN CALLING FOR THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. MCCAIN IS OUT TO LUNCH. WHY SHOULD OBAMA RESPOND? THIS IS SOME OTHER PERSON'S STATEMENT. THANK YOU MR. WALLACE FOR TELLING THE "HATE TALK EXPRESS" TO STOP IT. YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH.

@ Chuck Free - I noticed the same thing myself yesterday when watching television -
The clips from the McCain/Palin rallies showed nearly all white people and both candidates sounded negative and angry. The clips from the Obama events showed a wide diversity in the audience, and Obama had a positive message for them.
What do you want your President to represent? Part of the country, or all of it? I think that some folks are just mad that things aren't like they used to be - i.e. lily white with all the "colored" folks hidden away.

why ask Obama's campaign? Did Obama say it? I don't see you asking Mc Cain to comment on what keating said, or that sheriff said, or what is shouted out at his rallies. It's a personal comment by one who has personal experience with hate speach and the causal connection of it and violence.

You guys are so right. There is absolutely no room for racism and race baiting in this or any election.
To wit, I offer direct quotes from the biggest racist in this election this year, Sen. Obama himself:
From ?Dreams of My Father?,
?I CEASED TO ADVERISE MY MOTHER?S RACE AT THE AGE OF12 OR 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites?
From Dreams of My Father, ? I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER?S RACE?.
From ?Dreams of my Father?, ?The emotion between the races could never be pure..... the THE OTHER RACE (WHITE) WOULD ALWAYS REMAIN JUST THAT: MENACING, ALIEN AND APART?
From Dreams Of My Father, ?never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn?t speak to my own. IT WAS INTO MY FATHER?S IMAGE , THE BLACK MAN, THE SON OF AFRICA, THAT I?D PACKED ALL THE ATTRIBUTES I SOUGHT IN MYSELF.
From Dreams Of My Father:
?THAT HATE HADN?T GONE AWAY,? he wrote, BLAMING WHITE PEOPLE,- SOME CRUEL, SOME IGNORANT, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives.?
From Dreams Of My Father;
?There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs,? he wrote. ?It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, TO SHOW YOUR LOYALTY TO THE BLACK MASSES, TO STRIKE OUT, and name names?
From Dreams Of My Father, ?I had grown accustomed, everywhere, to SUSPICIONS BETWEEN THE RACES..?

Of course Mr. Lewis is correct in what he said, and of course McCain would take offense at it. He can dish it out but he cannot take it. the statements he and Palin have made are dangerous. I keep thinking that if something really bad happens, such as an attempted assasination, or maybe even a successful assasination, what in the world would McCain and Palin say? Certainly they would disavow any responsibility, but they would be guilty just the same.

John Lewis should have spoken up before now.
McCain-Palin rallies have been filled with hatred and threats of violence against Obama and his family for the last week.
A friend of ours attended one, and he was appalled by the level of vitriol and incitement coming from speakers on the main stage.
My buddy captured two guys standing near him, on his cell, roaring : " Kill the ****ing ******, terrorist".
Is this John McCain's idea of a
" respectful campaign"?
Isolated incidents during a tough election campaign are understandable. But these incidents are no one-offs.
They are being deliberately stoked by the McCain Campaign and their surrogates on Talk Radio.
The venom directed towards Obama is being ratcheted up by McCain's advisers - you know the same sort of people who worked for GW Bush and Karl Rove and gave us the Iraq War.
Palin's crowds are more like a lynch mob than a political gathering, a rabid beast foaming at the mouth.
Just what our Country needs at time of Economic chaos !!!
Is it not a federal crime to threaten to murder a Presidential candidate and harm his family ?
Is John McCain not responsible for allowing Palin and his warm up acts to incite the crowd into becoming a mob baying for Obama's blood ?
That Sherriff, Mike Scott, in Florida who stirred up the crowd last Monday, is under investigation - shouldn't all of those GOP supporters who threatened to assassinate Obama also be investigated by the Feds ?
All they have to do is look at the videos of Palin events for the last week to see who these people are. Remember - it only takes one Timothy McVeigh or Sirhan Sirhan to commit a horrific crime.
Mc Cain once condemned "the agents of intolerance".
Now he spends most of his time encouraging and inciting them to violence. Very Sad.

The posters here who claim this will backfire on Obama are probably the same type of people who call him a terrorist. What Mr. Lewis said will not backfire because it is what millions of Americans believe to be true. In my little neck of the woods, small town America,which is entirely anectodotal, people of all political persuasions believe McCain and Palin are playing with fire by stoking the seeds of hate. They are giving it a platform and it is dangerous. Kudos to ANYONE who calls them out on it.

John Lewis should have spoken up before now.
McCain-Palin rallies have been filled with hatred and threats of violence against Obama and his family for the last week.
A friend of ours attended one, and he was appalled by the level of vitriol and incitement coming from speakers on the main stage.
My buddy captured two guys standing near him, on his cell, roaring " Kill the ****ing ******, terrorist".
Is this John McCain's idea of a " respectful campaign"? Isolated incidents during a tough election campaign are understandable. But these incidents are no one-offs. They are being deliberately stoked by the McCain Campaign and their surrogates on Talk Radio. The venom directed towards Obama is being ratcheted up by McCain's advisers - you know the same sort of people who worked for GW Bush and Karl Rove and gave us the Iraq War.
Palin's crowds are more like a lynch mob than a political gathering, a rabid beast foaming at the mouth. Just what our Country needs at time of Economic chaos !!!
Is it not a federal crime to threaten to murder a Presidential candidate and harm his family ?
Is John McCain not responsible for allowing Palin and his warm up acts to incite the crowd into becoming a mob baying for Obama's blood ?
That Sherriff, Mike Scott, in Florida who stirred up the crowd last Monday, is under investigation - shouldn't all of those GOP supporters who threatened to assassinate Obama also be investigated by the Feds ?
All they have to do is look at the videos of Palin events for the last week to see who these people are. Remember - it only takes one Timothy McVeigh or Sirhan Sirhan to commit a horrific crime.
McCain once condemned "the agents of intolerance". Now he spends most of his time encouraging and inciting them to violence. Very Sad.

Well, it is certainly clear to anyone with half a brain, what Palin is trying to do: incite assassination of Barack Obama. She is placing a bounty on Obama, who she once called by the racist term, "Sambo". ("So, Sambo beat the *****.") What Palin is saying at her rallies is code for: "Somebody bring me the head of Barack Hussein Obama!" Anyone who would sanction putting bullets into wolf puppies heads as did Sarah Palin is capable of anything, in my opinion. If it would behoove her, she would pull the trigger herself. She would just close her eyes and think of a MOOSE!

GET READY WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN UP IF GOD FORBID MCCAIN WINS IRAN DRAFT AND THE WORLD ALREADY KNOWS MCCAIN IS DANGEROUS TO ALL OF US ---------------------------------------JUST LOOK AT WHAT HE IS DOING TO HIS OWN AMERICAN PEOPLE DIVIDING NO IN THIS WORLD WILL GET ALONG WITH THIS CRAZY MAN--MCCAIN IS A SICK DEMENTED MAN--SCARY SCARY--are we now all Gerogians Mccain?????????????? We do not need a God===We have our God our Faith the free will given to us to choose------------------------== Mccain/palin they sound like radical cult leaders starting their own religion and laws e have one we need a President---

Speaking the truth about Obama's views, votes and associations does not equal racism. I'm against Obama -- because he is a flaming LIBERAL, not because he's black. I voted for a black for President years ago and would have no problem at all voting for a conservative black. Voting against a liberal is not racist. Accusing me of racism is.

Phyllis Scott, of course, it's just fine to allow a baby who survives a partial birth abortion to just die too....that's OK...right?...no, its Infanticide.....how is that different from those wolf pups? Oh..I forgot...in Obamaworld it's just a 9 month old tissue mass and a choice...
..You are typical of the rabid leftists, probably a member of the Daily Kos nation.....Your post is hate speech, at it's best, and frankly, flat out ignorant...

Obama goes to a meeting which is also attended by Bill Ayers. That makes Obama a terrorist. Then it must follow that if you attend a McCain rally with racists present, that you are a racist. And if John McCain doesn't speak out againist it, doesn't that make John McCain a racist to?

I find it incredible that anyone would attempt to justify the hate mongering at these republican rallies over the past week! As a republican, it was fine when Senator McCain selected Gov. Palin as his running mate, I disagreed with his choice and simply decided to cross over and vote for the Obama/Biden ticket. What has happened in the last week at these rallies has been so disturbing that my friends and I are now asking is it time to leave the republican party? We consider ourselves moderate republicans, as such, we feel when wrong is wrong it should be called as such. That is what Mr. Lewis has done, and he should be applauded, and Senator Obama should not repudiate him for anything. I happened to have seen some of the videos from rally goers that did not make it to the MSM - I presume because they were so vile with hate, it was probably good to not show them on the MSM. These vidoes did not show 5 rally attendees acting out, it was mobs of people expressing pure hate and vitriol against a presidential candidate of the largest democracy on earth! I personally never thought I would see violence in my lifetime, but if the incitments do not stop, clearly that is where we are headed. They are playing to the lowest common denominator of their party. These are the same people spreading hate over the internet aganinst Sentor Obama, and anyone who dares dis-agree with them. I truly believe Senator McCain has lost a lot of ground this week from independent voters, and moderate republicans (especially women). We are in a time where more than ever the country needs to unite in order to plunge through the problems we are facing. It just looks, based on the last week's events that a McCain/Palin administration might be worse than a Bush/Cheney administration, and that is hard to fathom! Also, remember that God is neither republican or democrat, we should all strive to do good on earth.

"Lewis didn't accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities."
That does not mean they are practicing the same tactic. Everyone knows McCain, Palin and Barbie are race-baiting! Everyone knows their dogging the real issues. The Republicans are not gaining more people, only creating a KKK rally at all cost to the safety of our country.

Is McCain telling America his judgement was wrong when he praised John Lewis at saddleback as one of the three wisest persons he would consult. Looks to me Lewis is right on target. McCain and Palin are stoking racial hatred and division.
The only thing that is proven here is that McCains words at Saddleback where political and they came back to bite him in the arse.

so, john McCain goes about sewing the seeds of civl war and racism and now he demands that Barack Obama apologize for the words of another person who, I believe at least, is an american Hero himself and some one to be lsitened to when he speaks and was speaking the truth and said it well.
John McCain needs to apologize to all of us for stooping so low and acting so follishly at a time of national crisis.
He's a racist and quite possibly out of his mind.

The one who has shut down debate is j\John McCain. He isn't focused on the economy, the war, health care or anything else. Those are ALL debatable issues. If i may ask you, Senator McCain: How do you debate hate?

Lewis, you have become nothing more than a race-baiting pos Democrat. I don't care what you suffered in the past--that is no excuse for underhanded and illegitimate accusations in the present. It is your legacy that you are destroying, not McCain's.
The rest of you seem to think that smears of racism by asking hard questions of Obama--and pointing out his racist, terrorist, and corrupt friends--will stop the rest of the country from finding out the truth about Obama. You are wrong. Squeak about "racism" all you want--all the rest of the country sees is cowards too frightened to defend their candidate's record.

Now we know why some lunatics have been caught with guns and body armour intent on killing Mr. Obama. If that happens (God forbid), Americans know who are responsible. There will be too much to pay if that happens. MacCain is that what you want?

How dare McCain demand anything from Obama about what someone else said when he has not yet apologized for the behavior of his own supporters who have screamed out violent, vicious attacks upon Obama. Only yesterday did McCain correct one of his ignorant supporters to say that Obama is not an Arab! How would Arab Americans feel about that kind of sentiment? Do they somehow love their country less than white people of European ancestry. How pathetic is that kind of racism! At other rallies this week McCain and Palin both stood there silent when his mob were screaming death threats at Obama. He better be more careful or he could be charged with inciting violent acts. That's what John Lewis is talking about! Also, when Palin's daughter was criticized, at least her life was not threatened, nor was she accused of being a terrorist! If republicans really think Lewis's comments are pulling the race card, then look at McCain/Palin's recent line of attacks and how their mobs at their rallies are interpreting their words. They sound more like a lynch mob than a partisan crowd upset about differences in policy. McCain's the one that needs to apologize especially after he promised to Chris Matthews on his college campaign tour this spring not to conduct a smear campaign during the general election. So much for honesty!

Idiot politics. I hate this hypocrisy. Firstly McCain, don't fuel the hate! No wonder the lunatics start if you get low and dirty. Secondly, what has Lewis to do with Obama? If you have a problem, with Lewis says something you don't like talk directly. Thirdly, where is your emphasis on substance?? Haven't heard a single new argument and/or conservative value from your mouth for a long time. Supporting a 700 billion bailout? That is not conservative!! Choosing an incapable running mate is not conservative it is plainly stupid!

Mc cain is the one inciting the crowds and smirking at their nasty responses, and then he has the cheek to blame Obama, is Mc cain crazy!!!Repubs are the strangest people. Mc cain dosnt even believe his own lies.

Rudderless, bereft, and desperate, the Mcain campaign has resurrected an old friend from what should be a dead past. Raw racial hatred. Mcain?s dislike of O?bama?(the apostrophe is deliberate, he is half Irish American after all)?is palpable. His campaign has been rendered as aimless as his stage wandering the other night. Having failed to move voters in his direction, following the second debate the Mcain team announced yet another in a series of deceitful and clumsy course changes. This one is very obviously designed to engender hatred toward Barack Obama. This insistence on painting him as a radical (though no one could be more mainstream in the conduct of his life, a veritable Horatio Alger story), signals that the campaign is truly out of good ideas.
Since Obama?s decision to run he has been characterized by the opposing campaigns as too black, not black enough, a dangerous radical, an intellectual elitist, a Washington crony insider, a babe in the woods novice, and a terrorist sympathizing Arab Muslim. WOW!
Things have gotten out of hand now. Americans have seen many, many Arabs and Muslims die at the command of our government and some of us think that is as it should be. In linking Obama to the formerly radical (and reportedly rehabilitated Ayers) and throwing in the words ?terrorist? and ?dangerous? it is, for some of us a short hop to ?dangerous-radical-Arab-Muslim-terrorist.? Thus, ?Off with his head? and ?Kill him.?
Question: Did Mcain realize it would go this far?

I wouldn't have an issue with McCain's criticism of Obama's past associations if he did it legitimately.
But he is not -- and that is what Lewis and many others are saying.
First, McCain and Palin play loose with the facts. To hear them, you'd think Obama and Ayers were laughing and planting bombs together when Obama was 8 years old -- "Just out with my pal, Mom!"
The way Plain speaks, Obama is still having drinks with Ayers talking about their good old times together as terrorists in the Underground.
The facts state something quite different -- Obama met Ayers some 25 years later after Ayer's activities, after Ayers had been named Chicago Citizen of the Year and when Ayers was well known as a Professor and leader in Education reform.
They sat on two boards together -- board meetings are for shallow small talk and business -- not exactly palling around time -- you meet what, once per quarter -- not exactly socializing, not enough to even be called friends -- just business acquaintances.
But let's not allow facts to get in the way of inciting the electorate.
Let's use the word "terrorist" as if Ayers is still a terrorist; let's use the word "pal" as if the two planned to storm the Bastille together; Let's say America isn't good enough for Obama; Let's say Obama is a baby-killer because he believes in educating people about contraception.
And that's the hatred that Lewis is discussing -- and Lewis has legitimate concerns when McCain's crowds are shouting to "Kill Obama", "Terrorist!" "Socialist!" "FIght Him!"
Look, if the Democrats and the nation put up with George Bush's incompetence and cronyism without violence for 8 years, then if Obama wins, McCain's supporters need to buck up, and back your President as we did -- and pray that he is successful.
It's for all of our benefit.

I am a 60 year old American Indian grandmother. I remember when McCain was highly respected by his Indian constituents. But then, he became just another politician and now in his desperation, he has sold his soul for a chance to be president. When he picked Palin in a goofy attempt to win the "woman" vote, he said to me that he thinks women are basically stupid and will vote for Palin just because she is a woman. A win at any price is what I see in all his actions now. Until he was called to step up and say something about the frenzy of hate Palin was stirring up - he did not do anything. What does that tell you?

Would this actually be the same John McCain who has had his flacks fueling the fires which John Lewis is talking about? Perhaps if John McCain takes the first step and calls upon himself to immediately and personally reputdiate the outrageous and divisive comments his own campaign is making, Barack Obama can follow suit. I can say - without a doubt in my mind - that John Lewis would even be willing to repudiate his comments!

John Lewis is correct, not only in what he said but in the way he said it.
It's time to see McCain's campaign for what it is. It is divisive and destructive of all that is good in American politics. But even more, it can easily serve as a catalyst to incite some to acts of violence from which the country would never recover.
We should stop playing patsy here. Enough of this dangerous playing around with fire.

I don't get it! Palin is running around here saying that Obama is paling around with terrorist, and he's nit repudiating her, but he wants Obama to stop is man who is trying to be a peace maker. I was in a Starbucks this morning in the LA area and there was a white group and a black group shouting at each other -- debating whether or not if Obama is a terrorist. This stuff is getting a little crazy. Praying that this thing does not segue way into Cold Race War.

It seems to me that it's you people on here that are playing the race card. Why is it demanded that Obama respond to this? I don't recall this being Obama's mess. On televised republican rallies, a few people were noted saying some pretty ignorant and hateful things. What, they didn't notice the media there with their big old cameras pointing at them? What did they think the reaction would be?
At rallies where the media, again, were in attendance, some idiots start calling for Obama, a US Senator, to be killed, and calling him a terrorist. Did they think the media would just be all hush hush about that too? Until yesterday, McCain had no response to the hate spewed at his rallies. That upset some people. Yesterday, he stopped it, much it seems to the chargrin of a few of his supporters. Obama made a statement, thanking Senator McCain for his actions by defending his character yesterday at the Republican rally. Do you think Obama needs to respond to McCain and Lewis because he's a Democrat, or because his father is black?
Race, race. race. I mean, we all knew this was bound to happen because Obama is biracial, we just didn't know when. I don't think a lot of far right people expected him to get this far, and now they're in a panic. Personally, I hate that it happened. But, since it was televised for all the world to see, it's out there now and we have to deal with it. So, here at the end, race it is.
By the way, where do you get a pack of these race cards? Are they like playing cards, Uno, or what?
Some people are saying that stuff happens at Obama rallies all the time. I would love to see that footage. Are you saying that because you read it somewhere, or are you saying that because you saw it happening live ON A TELEVISED BROADCAST?

The Obama campaign should NOT repudiate these comments by Mr. Lewis. Why is it offensive to tell the truth about the hate-mongering going on at the McCain and particularly Palin rallies? They should be the ones repudiating their supporters when they scream that Obama is a traitor and should be killed. This campaign is utterly shameless. John Lewis is speaking up, as all people of good will should speak up when they hear these frightening tones of hate and hostility in our national discourse. His words should not be dismissed.

I am just stunned by the people that think there is nothing wrong with what McCain/Palin are doing. All of what they are saying has already been debunced, The board that Ayres and Obama sat on together had other members who were republican. Is anyone getting after them for knowing Ayres? What about the Board itself: A Lady that indorsed McCain it is her board! Noone is getting after her! As for the Rallies; You have people calling Obama a Terrorist and Yelling "Kill Him" "off with his Head". has anyone at an Obama Rally yelled to have McCain or Palin Killed? Of course not. Alot of the people at M/P rallies still think he is Arab! Even McCain had to say No to that Friday night. They have openned a can of worms. If anyone gets killed (and if it doesn't stop that is where it will go) will the country prosecute M/C for being the match that lit the flame? Even republicans are talking out about this. There are alot that believe M/P have gone where to far. This is starting to sound like Germany in the late 1930's.

Mr. Lewis is right to attempt to nip it in the (butt). The damage of the McCain Palin approach would far exceed winning or losing an election. It creates more unnecessary divisions between constituents, maligns the ethical governmental functioning, further dishonors the presidential seat, sets a poor example for future campaigning and could possibly ignite dangerous public assembly. He's if so fact so empowering the worst in the intolerant. And he doesn't get it, he's out of touch ... he doesn't know the montser he's creating with scurrilous divisive ads and hateful untruths. He doesn't even know they're being tyrants just like the previous administration.

I had good intentions to attend McCain/Palin rally in WI. I decided not to go after I saw the news of the hate talk. "kill him" traitor" terroist" off "with his head". I am not so certain i would call this race related but it is definately hate speech. It can lead to racist actions, such the news cast africian american sound engineer being racially accosted by a McCain/Palin supporter at a rally. I am ashamed and disapointed of the campaign Palin is running. I can clearly say this is one female republican that will pull not pull the lever next month.

@ Bryan: "This will back fire on Obama. There are lots of swing voters in FL, NC, and VA that are tired of people impling they are racist when they are simply stating the facts."
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What's interesting to me is how Obama's numbers have gone UP in these states since Palin came on board. I live in NC, and I know for a fact that the kind of rhetoric that the McCain/Palin camp is using is only driving MORE voters to Obama. PPP just put out a report showing that Obama's rising poll numbers here (in VA, FL, and NC) are coming more from an increase in white support than from increased African-American turnout.
Sure, we're tired of the assumption that white Southerners are racists. But have you noticed that those vitriolic, hate-spewing McCain/Palin rallies making the news *haven't been happening in the South*? Those aren't primarily white Southern racists that you're hearing yell "terrorist" and "kill him." Those were in New Mexico, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, among other places - but none of those were "Southern" states, last I checked. In fact, NC has only been graced by Palin's presence once (thank God), and McCain hasn't felt the need to visit us with a campaign stop.
The backfire won't be, and hasn't been, "on Obama." We've seen firsthand what hate-speech can incite, and we've spent the last forty-some years dealing with that legacy. Personally, this white Southern voter doesn't want to revisit those days. Nor do any of the white Southern voters I know.
While Rep. Lewis may have said something politically uncomfortable (and perhaps not as subtly as he should), he certainly spoke the truth that most of us "down here" have been thinking. Language has effects. The language of the McCain/Palin camp this week has been dangerous, and I'm glad to see them dialing it back, because I don't want to see any of my fellow Americans get hurt because they were more interested in scoring political points than in thinking through the possible real-world ramifications of encouraging their supporters to hate those who disagree with them. Hatred is not an American value - and no one knows that better than those of us who've lived our lives in the South.

I am a Jamaican who completed both undergraduate and graduate school (Columbia University) in America. However, I returned to my country to contribute to its development.
Do you Americans realise how much the whole presidential have become the comedic relief for civilised people around the world? I am sure some Hollywood screenwriter is preparing the manuscript for a feature film.
Have you all lost your minds? Someone blogged that Congressman Lewis did'nt support Obama during the Democratic Primary, but now he is speaking out about the base level that airhead Palin has brought the presidential campaign to during the last couple of weeks. SO WHAT!!! At least he is sharing his concern about what this type of pandering to intolerance of differences verbage can lead to in America.
However, Mr. Lewis needs to realise that his appeal to McCain isn't going to change the tone of the campaign. It is obvious that McCain has lost control of Palin. He isn't even on her radar because she is campaigning for 2012. You can bet your last dollar (if you have any left) that Sarah Palin intends to be the Republican Party's Presidential Nominee in 2012.
In her speeches Palin is appealing to the mob mentality and she doesn't seem to care who or what gets hurt in the process. Sarah Palin cares about only one person...Sarah Palin...her blind ambition.
She is even using her special needs baby to win sympathy votes. At the end of the VP Debates, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her husband hand over this blessed child to her. What is this baby doing out so late at night, under bright lights, in such a noisy environment? Why hasn't anyone questioned her judgment in this matter? She couldn't find a babysitter? Nonsense....she wants to look like the Mother of the Year. Anyone in their right mind knows that she isn't.
Mrs. Sarah Palin is hungry for national political power. The rock star attention that she has been getting is something she doesn't wants to lose. She is now like a junky...she is hooked.
She will say and do anything to stay in front of the cameras.
The McCain/Palin ticket intends to win this Presidential election by any means necessary. A number of my friends (both black and white)are now afraid to wear their Obama for President shirts or caps.
I hope and pray that no one gets hurt during the days leading up to, and after November 4 because of Sarah Palin's campaign speeches.

White supremacy is always the elephant in the room. It's true that many Americans, especially white Americans, don't want to hear about white supremacy.
But maybe they ought to hear that bitter truth whether they like it or not. White supremacy dumbed down generations of white people. But lately, because of the sweeping social changes that began with the civil rights movement, lots of white people are smartening up. That terrifies the Republicans who rely on white supremacy to skim off a significant portion of the working class vote.
If for tactical reasons Barack Obama doesn't want to be blunt about white supremacy, then somebody else has to stand up and so the job.
McCain/Palin have simply changed the vocabulary of white supremacy from the old Jim Crow verbiage to the new vocabulary of "terrorist", "muslim terrorist", "not a regular American","that one", or "not one of us".
I commend John Lewis, Richard Trumka, Tim Wise, Donna Brazile and the others who have confronted white supremacy in a direct and uncompromising manner.
They are talking the real straight talk...

I remember the 60's - they were frightening times. I was there in the 70's when the Vietnam vets came home (my uncles). I got married in the 80's and worried about getting through college and making ends meet. The 90's were not bad. I don't have bad memories. The last eight years have been pretty horrible. I said goodbye to a niece and nephew going off to war. And now this year I see my 401K disappear - I cannot retire. How much worse can it get? When I vote, it will be with a heavy heart. I won't look for age or color. I want to see hope. Hope that next year will be better. Aren't you glad we live in a country where we can voice our opinions and still respect each and every American because, folks, we are in this together. We are not alone.

Reasonable people of all political persuasion have become alarmed by the tone of the Palin-led name-calling and innuendos, the McCain-Palin ads on TV, and increasingly reflected in the bellicose audiences in townhall meetings. It is obvious that Governor Palin simply does not know better and is parroting lines written for her by Karl Rove's protege. However, Senator McCain does know better and he similarly was smeared by George W Bush and Karl Rove-style politicking. Yet desperation can lead to an unholy alliance and led by Palin the campaign has taken a turn toward stereotyping, hate-speech and stoking flames of xenophobia. John Lewis is right to speak out against it. Some conservatives will say it is only because he is black (suggesting they still don't get it and reinforcing Lewis' worries). But the Republican should pay attention: Christopher Brinkley, son of William F. Brinkley has endorsed Senator Obama. This is also true of Susan Eisenhower and, this past week by Lilibet Hagel. Moderate conservatives are walking with their ballots.

For those who are not paying attention, a camera man at a McCain/ Palin rally was called a ni##er by audience members, while others screamed out for the murder of Obama. This occured without response from either of the Republican cantidates. Scary! At a time when we are already fighting two wars and suffering a week of the worst Wall Street declines in history, the last thing we need as a country is another round of race riots. No matter what your political affiliation maybe, we must all be very careful to aviod this at all costs. PLEASE!!!!

Racism still exists. Deal with it. Stop telling people to "stop using the race card". There is no such thing as a "race card". That phrase is made by people who don't or afraid to talk about race, so they accuse anyone who speaks about the issue is simply exaggerating and everything in society if fair and equal now.
Are you meaning to tell me that shouting things like "terrorist!" and even "kill him!" are not prejudice? Referring to him by his whole name as to imply/emphasis his middle, because we all know what "that means"? What does it take for people to acknowledge that bigoted people are still out there? Someone could publicly call him the N word and some of you will complain that if anyone says anything oppositional, they're playing the "race card". This is not a game. This is reality. And life sucks. So please, stop accusing people of acknowledging their surroundings because you can't, or rather, don't want to.

john lewis has once again spoken the truth , more people need to come out and rebuke mcain, palin we can understand is a juvenile , but papa mcain ought to know better , the white house is not the end of the world, such an act of desperation , such that his followers now have the nerve to scream traitor , terrorist at his rallies only goes to show how much he has promoted this scums..
enough

Re: lee,sarasota
Obama supporters are the real hate mongers? Since when? His rallies are always peaceful, uplifting and positive. The opposing party is all about negative insults and fear. He has supporters of all background. All of McCain's supporters are Caucasian (although they do vary in hair color). Obama's campaign has NOT been about race and you know it.
That said, Racism still exists. Deal with it. Stop telling people to "stop using the race card". There is no such thing as a "race card". That phrase is made by people who don't or afraid to
talk about race, so they accuse anyone who speaks about the issue is simply exaggerating and everything in society if fair and equal now.
Are you meaning to tell me that shouting things like "terrorist!" and even "kill him!" are not prejudice? Referring to him by his whole name as to imply/emphasis his middle, because we all know what "that means"? What does it take for people to acknowledge that bigoted people are still out there? Someone could publicly call him the N word and some of you will complain that if anyone says anything oppositional, they're playing the "race card". This is not a game. This is reality. And life sucks. So please, stop accusing people of acknowledging their surroundings because you can't, or rather, don't want to.

A statement from Obama, via none other than Fox news.
?Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ?pals around with terrorists,?? said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. ?As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.?
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/

To your comment of: "JOHN LEWIS NEEDS TO GO BACK INTO THAT HOLE HE CRAWLED OUT OF. CIVIL RIGHTS, DIVERSITY & AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HAVE DESTROYED AMERICA. I'M OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW!! OUR ENTIRE NATIONAL DEBT IS BASED ON FAILED GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS FOR MINORITIES, ILLEGALS & IMMIGRANTS, AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE!!"
Are you kidding? Please tell me that you just posted that to get a rise out of people, because I've never heard anythings so stupid in my life. You can thank your buddy Bush for flushing our surplus money down a hole just to gain happy points. I also guess you haven't heard that there is a war going on that is draining money away at an alarming rate. The programs that you speak of are just a trifle compared to the waste the Republicans have visited on the American people. Then you have deregulation. Who's bright idea was it to let greed hold the reigns of the economy? Oh yeah, it was Regan, who the Republicans worship like a god.
Please crawl back in your own hole.

The videos of the McCain followers I've seen on YouTube are downright scary. There seems to be two dominant emotions amongst the rabid: hatred and fear. The hatred I don't understand, because although I have suffered through the last 8 years of Bush, I never hated him, in fact I would pray for him to start acting more human. The fear I do understand, because I feared what Bush would do, and everything I feared has come true: countless lives lost in another fruitless war, a wrecked economy in part due to deregulation but also due to that fruitless war, an executive branch out-of-control and an enemy of the Constitution. So I understand fear. We, who opposed Bush and his neo-con friends, understand fear. So, welcome to fear, right-wingers. I wish I could say that I feel sorry for you, but I'm not that perfect a person.

I DO NOT THINK JOHN MCCAIN IS A RACIST. I DO THINK THAT TO SOME EXTEND JOHN LEWIS IS RIGHT. HE IS NOT GEORGE WALLACE, BUT YOU MUST BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU MAKE PEOPLE FEEL A CERTAIN WAY BECAUSE OF RHETORIC. JOHH MCCAIN STATE FACTS AND NOT A PLAY ON WORDS AS YOUR RUNNING MATE DID. SARAH AND HIS CAMPAIGN IS PREPARING FOR HER RUN IN 2012. THAT'S WHY THEY KEEP MAKING SO MANY MISTAKES. IT JUST MAKE ME WONDER IF THERE IS NOT SOME TREASON GOING ON HIS OWN CAMP.

Unfortunately, John Lewis made this comment after McCain tried to vindicate himself and his campaign. But what Mr. Lewis said is true. I know that McCain and Palin want to win...and they should put up a good fight...but they should be fighting by pointing out the differences between the two campaigns and not taking cheap shots at Obama. He has explained again and again his relationship with Bill Ayres...it was NO relationship...he knows the man...he sat on a board or two with him...they live in the same neighborhood. I worked with someone who lives in that neighborhood and he isn't palling around with terrorists. McCain and Palin know exactly what they are doing...they are trying to make people afraid of Obama...he's a terrorist...his middle name is Hussein...and when that isn't enough then they just flat out tell lies on him. I used to admire John McCain...no more. His wife said Obama has run the nastiest campaign...I didn't think it could get nastier than what the Clintons did...but McCain and company proved me wrong. Cindy has lost it...along with her husband.

It's not the RACE card, it's the HUMANITY card. Mc Cain pulled it the minute he pointed at Obama and said "that one". He did not say "that man", "that person" or even "that n***er". He said "that one" which indicates an object not a person. History has demonstrated over and over...the first step in sowing hatred and division between people is to distance yourself from your opponent and their humanity. He, becomes they. They become those. I wish I could believe that Mc Cain just got tongue tied and misspoke. He has been in the business of politics too long for that to fly. Palin's attack have been vitriolic. I now liken her to a pitbull with rabies. I know that both sides of the campaign have issued statements, less than truthful. But John Lewis is right and if John Mc Cain can't see it then he does NOT belong in the white house.

REPUDIATE????
John McCain DIDN'T REPUDIATE HIS White Affirmative Action VP Pick QUEENIE PALIN for saying Sen. Obama was "palling around with terrorists".
HAVING a common, beer drinking, gun-toting virtually illiterate fool leading this country for 8 years has plunged this nation into the worst, and most HORRIFYING FINANCIAL and WORLD MARKET CRISIS EVER KNOWN!!!!
MCCAIN and SARAH PALIN ARE
the DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
JOHN MCCAIN and SARAH PALIN have HAPPILY AND GLEEFULY CHEERED THEIR RACIST FAN RALLLIES TO A FEVER PITCH STOAKING HATE MONGERING, and VIOLENT RACIST HATE SPEECHES and THEIR INEPT LEADERSHIP on the electorate. NEITHER OF THEM ARE FIT TO SERVE THIS NATION.

Yesterday morning I drove to work on backroads to my job in Athens, GA. I saw ahead of me that somebody had fashioned a homemade sign out of a board that read "OBAMA" in red paint and had nailed it at a 90 degree angle to a tree alongside the road. I thought, wow, that's kind of neat that somebody actually made their own Obama sign, here in the middle of nowhere, GA. That's until I got close enough to see the rope hanging from it. This has gone to far, people. I don't care what your politics are, this is just wrong and everybody should condemn it.

Why you black ****** worrying.. All brodas need to do is get yourself a something in the house. Anything happens to the Senator.Many people will go down before I go down.I ain't going back to the slavery anymore.

We who lived through the violent 60's know exactly where John Lewis is coming from. There is a not-so-fine line between campaign rhetoric FOR your candidate and hate rhetoric AGAINST your opponent. You can make your point without whipping your crowd into a hate mob. Ms Palin may be too young to fully appreciate the volatility of her rhetoric, but John McCain and his senior staffers SHOULD and DO know the likely consequences. All Mr. Lewis is trying to do is remind the Republican campaign of their civil responsibility.

McCain continues to disappoint those who have always held him in esteem. He goes further now to feign insult at John Lewis' sincere concern and call to him and his running mate to stop the rhetoric that has enormous potential to incite violence beyond the death threats and epithets
being echoed from worked up supporters.
He has to be ashamed, trying to put a spin on John Lewis' statements and further trying to bait Obama -- to participate. He and Palin have started the fight, I'd think they don't need Obama to do what? Side with them? Decry Lewis' serious concerns?
We should condemn those who throw the red meat. For Christ Sake this is a political campaign for the highest office. How can these two serve all Americans if they continue to show us they're interested in playing to an audience of only white Americans and playing them against a man of colour.
For McCain to pretend he does not understand the nature of his and Palin's incitements informs us all just how stupid they think we are.
Its the ECONOMY, not Ayers and not abortion. Can they offer a solution, the answer is NO?

Don't know whether you saw the Glenn Greenwald video that was posted the other day on crooksandliars.com It showed McCain supporters lining up to go into a McCain rally. They were mainly white middle aged (50+) Ohioans. Even on video, the level of hatred was freightening -- KKK members without hoods or sheets. It was all reminiscent of the good people who brought us Hitler in the 30's..
McCain may say that he has not encouraged this kind of behavior, but Palin's comments go to the lowest level of discourse. If you accuse a candidate of "palling around with terrorists" (I believe McCain has been using a variation of that comment), is it hard to imagine that their supporters will go to the next iteration and conclude that Obama is a "terrorist" or feel justified in endorsing violence to stop Obama.
The point of the election is to try to develop a consensus that will allow the next president to extricate our country from the various crises that hang over us. Does McCain believe that he can develop credibility to govern if he goes off the planet in his efforts to get elected?
I am sure that McCain does not want to be recorded in history either as having won by going to fear and race-baiting, and I'm equally sure that he does not want to lose bearing the label of having run a racist, fear-mongering campaign. While he does want either result, he has gone so close to the line and stepped over several times that it's hard for him to claim innocence as this point.

Dear Senator McCain:
You have objected to the words of Congressman Lewis in which he accused you and Governor Palin of "playing with fire." You have (mildly) rebuked some of your supporters for their angry and hate-filled words at some of your recent rallies. Yet you continue to run, at least in Ohio, an ad including the words: ""When convenient he worked with terrorist, Bill Ayers. When discovered, he lied." The ad's clear implication is that Obama was knowingly and secretly working with Bill Ayers when Ayers was an active terrorist. As you very well know, this is not the case.
This ad is beyond dishonest and is also dangerous in that it incites precisely the kind of reaction you sought to curb at your recent rallies. I am writing to ask you to withdraw the ad and to personally repudiate it. it seems to me that allowing it to continue to air shows that your words in front of the TV cameras at your public appearances when you sought to tone down the outrageous and divisive comments of some of your supporters are quite simply hypocrisy.
I would hope that there are as you yourself have said some things that are more important to you than winning an election.
Thank you,
Loudon Seth-
I have just for the first time seen McCain's TV ad targeting Obama's "blind ambition." The ad includes these words:"When convenient he worked with terrorists. When discovered, he lied." The ad's clear implication is that Obama was working actively as a terrorist with Bill Ayers, not that he sat on a board overseeing an educational project with a man who had been protesting the Vietnam war, albeit violently, some 40 years ago when Obama was eight years old. This ad is beyond merely a lie. It is beyond despicable and dishonorable ? words that accurately characterize much of the McCain campaign, especially recently. It is recklessly dangerous. There are certainly some who will interpret this ad as suggesting that Obama is a clear and present danger to the country, with all that that implies. To encourage the kind of dangerous reaction such speech is bound to provoke is dangerously irresponsible. McCain needs to withdraw the ad and apologize for it.
It is all very well for McCain to (mildly) rebuke those of his supporters he and his running-mate have whipped into a frenzy of rage while on the stump. As long as they continue to air this ad and others describing Obama as "dangerous" (and worse), his words on the stump are mere hypocrisy. It is sad to see McCain descend to smears that are in very specific ways reminiscent of the worst of the McCarthy era.
It seems likely that McCain and his ethically-challenged pit-bull running-mate will lose this election. McCain is losing his honor as well. Pathetic really.

How is Lewis playing the race card (with demands for immediate repudiation from Senator McCain) when lifelong Republican and 2000 strong McCain supporter Frank Schaeffer said the same thing yesterday
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.mccain10oct10,0,7557571.story
I wonder why Senator McCain did not call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate Mr. Schaeffer's comments. I'm sure getting some public race play has nothing to do with the different responses to these two criticisms of Senator McCain's recent attack rhetoric.

Barak-Biden campaign is exactly what we need. McCain calls upon Barak to diffuse a problem he caused, which has displayed racism/prejudice. If you want to know what Barak can do for you. Go to his website and view his plans vs McCain plans or better yet go to his myspace page. Barak is an All American man, who was raised by white grandparents doesn't sound like a terrorist to me. He sounds like an educated human being, who has the people best interest in hand regardless of race,religion or what side of the tracks you were raised upon.
Go Barak!! My American Hero

Look... can we talk about issues... this entire week the MSM has been chomping at the bit at every distraction the McCain campaign throws forward.
LETS TALK ISSUES
Wall Street is in the dumper, people are losing their homes, uninsured or underinsured americans are going without medical care every day.
There is a whole heck of a lot more important issues out there than these distractions

Right is right; wrong is wrong. Hate is wrong. Even the Bible says you are going to be tempted by the devil. You, ulitmaitely, have to make the right choice between good and evil. Ask yourself, is Congressman Lewis fighting the good or evil fight? I think rational Americans know the difference between good and evil.

McCain/Palin's comments were NEVER intended to invoke hatred. They were simply stating FACTS (NOT opinion) that Obama has worked with, worshiped with and was friendly with known terrorists, anti-Americans and convicted criminals. The FACTS are the FACTS! Obama's bad judgment is what's at question here. Funny how the democrats are twisting this to look like McCain/Palin are at fault! If he'd only answer our questions then this could be put to rest. He clearly has something to hide.

Hey Lewis, your party has been calling conservatives racist all my life. No conservative would ever vote for a democrat, period. So pray tell, who are the racists? If Barack loses, it must be the libs turning their backs on him. Plus, he's a Marxist.

What would leading neurologists and psychologists say about the following profile?
Living under the unrelenting threat of torture; being the recipient of intermittent torture. Being unable to escape for some 157,680,000 consecutive, incessant, relentlessly harsh seconds; or put another way, some 2,628,000 consecutive, incessant, relentlessly harsh minutes; or yet another way, some 43,800 consecutive, incessant, relentlessly harsh hours of horrendous existence.
Does time for POW?s pass in seconds, minutes, hours, days? Does that individual return from such a horrific experience in the same mental health he entered it with? How does the residue of such a horrific experience, hidden from view, express itself? How does the residue of such a horrific experience currently influence this individual?s world view? This individual?s thinking process?
What brain damage may have likely occurred? What does brain scanning of similar profiles reveal?
We must learn about Senator McCain's actual mental health. To say much is at stake is an understatement in order of magnitude equal to "the fundamentals of our economy are sound."

I have just for the first time seen McCain's TV ad targeting Obama's "blind ambition." The ad includes these words:"When convenient he worked with terrorists. When discovered, he lied." The ad's clear implication is that Obama was working actively as a terrorist with Bill Ayers, not that he sat on a board overseeing an educational project with a man who had been protesting the Vietnam war, albeit violently, some 40 years ago when Obama was eight years old. This ad is beyond merely a lie. It is beyond despicable and dishonorable ? words that accurately characterize much of the McCain campaign, especially recently. It is recklessly dangerous. There are certainly some who will interpret this ad as suggesting that Obama is a clear and present danger to the country. What kind of response are such inflammatory and baseless charges designed to provoke??? This is dangerously irresponsible, and Lewis was spot-on in his remarks. McCain needs to withdraw the ad and apologize for it.
It is all very well for McCain to (mildly) rebuke those of his supporters he and his running-mate have whipped into a frenzy of rage and hate while on the stump. As long as they continue to air this ad and others describing Obama as "dangerous" (and worse), his words on the stump are mere hypocrisy.
McCain and his ethically-challenged pit-bull running-mate will lose this election. McCain is losing his honor as well. (Palin never had any to lose.) Pathetic really.

daisy mae (07:30 pm) crayoned: "This is why I don't like Blacks, not because of the color of their skin but because they are STUPID, BIASED AND RACIST."
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Must be a severe shortage of mirrors in your trailer park, daisy mae...

I'm puzzled that this is suddenly all about race. It's about hate. And it's not surrogates who are talking hate - it's the candidates. Yes, McCain did backtrack last night and I'm glad he did. It was a little feeble, but I do think he's seeing the blazing hatred that's in part the result of his campaign rhetoric and that of Palin giving people the 'go ahead' to say those things because they've been validated by the candidates themselves. And although John Lewis did overstate the impact and Obama responded very well - this hatred and viciousness is not just a few 'republicans spouting off.' In my opinion it's an orchestrated mindset and I don't believe some of those people asking the questions and making the statements at the Republican rallies are just 'regular' citizens. Some of them sound too 'on message' and too 'together' and fluent in their delivery to be speaking on impulse. I think the Republicans do have plants in the audience to fire up the base in this pretty scary fashion. And if you read some of the right-wing blogs - and some of the comments here - there's a lot of hate out there.

If McCain can't accept valid criticism from a man he himself called wise it speaks of how shallow and blind he has become. His campaign is marked by double standards and hypocrisy.
McCain/Palin are attempting to inject hate and McCarthyism into this campaign to distract from their failings and the failings of their party. Their Guilt-by-association smears work against them and America.
For those who claim these are valid -please research and explain this:
- John McCain sat on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom,chaired by John Singlaub, who was involved in the Iran contra scandal. The Council was notorious for its affiliation with white supremacists, etc.
- The above organization gave direct support and finacial aid to Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
- McCain maintains a relationship with radio host and convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy acknowledged preparations for murder and kidnappings in addition to his break-ins.
- Liddy has held fundraisers for McCain and has donated as recently as this year. The Charlotte Observer reported on January 23, 2000, that McCain's campaign vouched for Liddy's "character"
- McCain's involvement with the Keating 5 Scandal is well documented and he and his wife maintain investments and connections with Keating to this day.
- Palin and Her husband have both been involved with the Alaska Independence Party. Joe Vogler (The founder) has been quoted as saying, "the fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government" and "I won't be buried under their damn flag... Vogler even went so far as to renounce his allegiance to the United States.
There are many more than the above for those who talk about learning the truth.
The McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.
McCain in 2000 said "Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you dont have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it."
Now the Washington Post reports that McCain spends nearly 100% of its $$ on negative ads.
Barack Obama has worked his way to where he is, even becoming the president of the Harvard Law Review. He passed on wealth to work helping the communities of Chicago. He is a devoted family man and has been married to the same woman from the start.
McCain was 5th from the bottom of his class. He was born with a silver spoon and still has more cars and houses than he can remember. He left his first wife after she was in a terrible accident to marry a wealthy woman (whom he has called a **** in public). She not only became addicted to pain killers but stole them from her own charity. He has recklessly crashed at least 3 aircraft BEFORE being shot down in Vietnam.
Given all of this, McCain and his supporters claim to be bringing up important questions about Obama?!?! Almost none of what I have mentioned above has gotten remotely the coverage that Ayers has in the media.
P.S. The foundation that Ayers and Obama were a part of together has also donated to McCain and Annenberg hosted gatherings with such people as President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Charles, Prince of Wales. It was Annenberg who introduced President Reagan to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Reagans often celebrated New Year's Eve with the Annenbergs. FYI

As a three year old female child in Maumee, Ohio, in 1949, I asked my mother why black children rode at the back of the bus or why they looked so fearful. Even as a child, without knowing that blacks were to be treated differently according to the whites, I saw that something was very wrong about it. Clearly, no black person was permitted to be in our town after five p.m... So, when George Wallace made himself entitled to represent hate for all whites and hate for even small children during the televised 1950?s, there was a word that began to be heard called racism. No one who is not a racist could do what he is doing. Not money not power could make them do it. I thank john McCain for showing all Americans that racism still hides inside of ambitious individuals and there is absolutely nothing about it that shows any child anywhere in the world that America understands the phrase ?AMERICAN HERO?. The American hero?s have been those small black children who dared to defy those giant white bullies in the 1950?s and 1960?s. McCain and his sidekick Palin (and Todd) have chosen to be a new vision for small children. What they see is an old man hiding behind skirts forming armies of hate and toxic waste. McCain is not a hero to our soldiers or to any American now. He is a pitiful greedy desperate politician. There is nothing more dangerous than that.

McCain is a great man who has fallen so very far. He has brought this on to himself. Imagine if some individual/spectator at an Obama campaign had made similiar disparaging comments like kill or terrorist towards John McCain. Imagine further a muted response by Obama similiar that which happened this week. I would submit that there would be outrage at the Obama campaign for not denounce and commenting with great concern that such commentary is not part of this process. This only happened when it was put in John McCains face at a town hall style meeting. Until that point in time Silence. The McCain campaign is hoping to capitalize on ignorance and fear. Unfortunately hoping to scare people will not work today, We are all scared about something else and it is not the color of obamas skin. Its the Economy Stupid.

He's running the Hate Talk Express, now. Must suck to be a loser, but that doesn't excuse it. Actually, though, he's doing us a favor by exposing the truth about conservatism: it's fueled by bigotry, frustration and anger. And it's failures are all around us. Now that they're losing the smiley mask is off at last and just like back in the days of riot squad dogs and fire hoses, their ugliness is on display for the whole world to see. The whole world is watching, John, the whole world is watching.

Yes, This is coming from a guy who had no guts and stab clinton in the back (a whitey) to endorse Obama (a blacky) but that's not racism. Mr Lewis because Obama the Messiah he came from the heaven and will heal all wounds.
You sir, Obama and other retards brought RACE from the start. Now you want to blame others. Typical libbys.

becca wrote: "Democrats fought hard against civil rights."
--------
Your knowledge of history is flawed to put it mildly. This statement along with just about everything else in your post is quite simply untrue. Harry Truman ran on a civil rights platform in 1948, risking splitting his own party. The first major civil rights and voter rights legislation was passed under Lyndon Johnson, who fought for both with great courage. Since then Republicans have fanned the embers of white resentment in the southern states in election after election. Why do you think the south, once reliably Democratic, has been reliably republican for the past 60 years??? And just as a matter of fact, John Lewis did not raise the issue of race. Neither did Obama. You and others like you did, however. The issue here is the dangerous fomenting of anger and hatred by McCain and Palin in their last desperate thrashings around before they go down to defeat in November. The country does not need any more of the tired, old Republican "scorched earth" strategy. The issues confronting us are too serious. Perhaps McCain would like to get back to discussing those in a civilized manner before it is too late ? if it is not already.

voting age should be raised to 21 again & the draft reinstated. perhaps a couple extra political science courses taught in the schools would be helpful. these koolaid drinkers haven't figured out their Obamasiah is not something new & different. he's a re-run of prevous eras...not in America, but in Rome, Germany, Russia, Cuba & most recently Zimbabwe.
oh & Lewis is a lying ass salesman who doesn't give a damn about his "ppl". he won't get re-elected without an Obama endorsement duh.

This presidential race is getting more and more rabbit hole-y. What a powerful statement from Lewis. What an opportunity for McCain to rise above his campaign's recent negativity. What a shame that he chose not to take that opportunity. Sad. I agree with Lewis's comments. The game Palin and McCain are playing is a dangerous, perhaps even lethal, one. I hope they come to their senses soon.

John McCain is not a racist, and though he has not always repudiated the obviously racist comments in his campaign, he has not said anything that, to me, implies he is a racist.
Sarah Palin is another matter. Palin, not McCain, is the one who instigated this. Palin, not McCain, is the one who started inciting all this hatred towards Obama by claiming, and I quote, he "pals around with terrorists." I don't care how Republicans try to spin it; this was a racist comment meant to incite further racism. Sarah Palin may not be a racist; but she sure has a funny way of showing it if she's not. And how would we know, anyways? The only time she has granted legitimate interviews, she has come of looking like an idiot; and she has yet to grant a press conference so the few remaining responsible members of the media who exist can actually ask her questions.
I don't necessarily blame John McCain for the idiocy of some of his followers. But I do blame Sarah Palin.

Congratulations Mr McCain. You have succeeded in throwing whatever dignity, honor, and respect you ever possessed right out the wondow. I was at that rally in Clearwater and heard the vilest & most divisive, hate-filled comments I've ever witnessed in my life. I had 3 little old ladies in front of me sighing that it was a shame lynchings were illegal. I heard Obama referred to more by the "N" word than by name (when they weren't calling him a Muslim terrorist that is) I saw t-shirts depicting Sen. Obama hanging from a tree, and some with his face in a bullseye. When the guy next to me was saying they'd have to call it "The Black House" if Obama were elected, his friend said he'd never make it there because someone would "blow his black *** to hell".
You & your unvetted VP pick, Sarah Palin have caused this vicious environment by YOUR actions & words. YOUR campaign has given permission to these racist people to behave in this way. Weren't you taught, as most children were, that hatred is like a cancer? What happened to "Country First"?
You & Palin have become the very "agents of intolerence" you once decried. You have divided the very country you sought to lead. Not exactly the actions of a "war hero" are they?
This country needs a President that seeks to unite us & provide REAL solutions to our problems. Not one that stokes the fires of racism & hatred to achieve a desired goal.
You are no longer that man Sen. McCain...I don't know who YOU are anymore but the man from 2000 is long gone.

Congratulations Mr McCain. You have succeeded in throwing whatever dignity, honor, and respect you ever possessed right out the wondow. I was at that rally in Clearwater and heard the vilest & most divisive, hate-filled comments I've ever witnessed in my life. I had 3 little old ladies in front of me sighing that it was a shame lynchings were illegal. I heard Obama referred to more by the "N" word than by name (when they weren't calling him a Muslim terrorist that is) I saw t-shirts depicting Sen. Obama hanging from a tree, and some with his face in a bullseye. When the guy next to me was saying they'd have to call it "The Black House" if Obama were elected, his friend said he'd never make it there because someone would "blow his black *** to hell".
You & your unvetted VP pick, Sarah Palin have caused this vicious environment by YOUR actions & words. YOUR campaign has given permission to these racist people to behave in this way. Weren't you taught, as most children were, that hatred is like a cancer? What happened to "Country First"?
You & Palin have become the very "agents of intolerence" you once decried. You have divided the very country you sought to lead. Not exactly the actions of a "war hero" are they?
This country needs a President that seeks to unite us & provide REAL solutions to our problems. Not one that stokes the fires of racism & hatred to achieve a desired goal.
You are no longer that man Sen. McCain...I don't know who YOU are anymore but the man from 2000 is long gone.

McCanin and Palin should have never went down that path, the YOU TUBE outside the McCain rally say it all, he has gotten these radicals so wound up, just look at the lady he had to correct, hopefully he will get a clue

What took so long for the race card to be played against McCain?!
No matter what issue anyone raises when it comes to a candidate of color - the caucasian sooner or later will have the race card played agianst them.
We are asked to move beyond race in this country - yet it is always those from the black community that make it an issue!
Look at Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and now Lewis of Georgia comaparing McCain to George Wallace just because he is bringing up Ayers!
Obama is a Harvard grad - would he have us believe that he didn't know who Ayers was?! Or that he didn't care that this former terrorist was kicking off his political career - and that is NOT a good thing?! Or is he going to excuse it as one of his 'bone-headed ideas! Should we trust his judgement?
A Harvard grad would have us believe that he sat in Wrights church for 20 years and didn't notice that he condemed America and Israel?? Come on - Lewis's smear of John McCain is simply because McCain is revealing the real Obama to America - Oh heaven forbid that whould happen - why - because - as the first black candidate he is not supposed to be questioned or scrutinized like every other candidate in history!
No wonder people are angry! Complete adoration on one side leads to complete anger on the other side. The biased, adoring press has caused this situation.

Hey, welcome to the "post-racial" world.
John Lewis is now officially a jackass. And to think, I used to respect him, now he's just another sell-out and shill, a modern day version of Uncle Tom, willing to sell his reputation to Obama for a few trinkets.

My comments are hedged with the caveat that I would describe the British electoral system as deeply flawed in delivering results way out of line with popular opinion. Nowhere is perfect. However, at no point in my fifty years on this mortal coil have I ever witnessed a UK General Election to be so disfigured with the vile, hate filled, contempt laden poison encouraged by Sen McCain and his Barbie Doll apology for a VP contender. Sarah Palin is a disgrace by any standards (wink!) and should, with God's grace, be returning back to Wasilla within the month, thereafter to contemplate an ethics investigation by the Alaska Senate.
And for any GOP rednecks who object to goddam for'ners commenting on US elections, get over it! If you insist that the US is the leader of the free world, expect the free world to comment in return. It's a two way street whether you like it or not.

Were the hell was Lewis when the Obama camp was cruxifing Palin and her children. All this is, is another way Obama is silencing people. You can't say anything about Obama without it being racist. Why do you think the media doesn't report the truth about Obama. they are afraid of being called racist. People need to stand up for McCaina and people need to stand up for America, or we will have Obama and his thugs in the white house.

Basically what Mr. lewis has just said is that if Obama doesn't win this election there will be riot's in the streets. With a dumb statement like this he himself has planted the seed of hate he is preaching against. How dare this man compare Sen. mccain with george wallace of the 60's and 70's. Wallace was shot and supposly forgiven by so called Christians for his sins. It seems with this talk there will be a revolution..if he and other black leader's continue to use the race card crap..This is about terriosts that come in all colors and our the enemies of the United States of America. So if you want to be in the game you have to be tough and want it if not get out and take your pity party with you. If you win you win if you lose you lose be a man of any race creed or color.

Most of Gov. Palin's appearences are a stone's throw away from being a Klan rally. John Lewis is totally accurate but this is old news. Notice McCain's change in tone. No movement in polls-base is fired up but independents and conservative Democrats are totally turned off. That kind of factless rebel rousing will get the Republicans about 45% if that much- not enough to win. I think we're seeing the beginning of the end for McCain...

Thank you Mr. Lewis for speaking out against John McCain and Sarah Palin. Spreading racial insults hoping people will fear and not go to the polls. Please I hope other black leaders will step up. I knew John McCain was low as you go but this is the most underminded skem coming from someone who is out of time. John showed how smart he was by not chosing someone who had more skill, experience and sense that he does.

John McCain is nothing but another dirty Republican who will do anything to win. He has no honor and no courage. If he had he would stand up and tell those who insult Mr. Obama to back off and shut up.

Let's see, John McCain, was beaten, held behind bars, denied his rights due him in the Geneva Convention while in a prisoner of war in a foreign country. John Lewis was beaten, held behind bars, denied his rights due him written in the Constitution, but of course he suffered those atrocities in his own country. Wow, what would John Lewis know about racism. What the hell WAS he thinking.....

Reading all of the other posted comments makes me sad. It seems to me that there is an incredible double standard and Barack Obama's campaign has been getting a pass on a lot of things, even when he was campaigning against Hillary. Obama is free to criticize McCain for his association with any and all Republicans and valid or not, Obama is not considered a hate-monger. The mainstream media has refused to ask the hard questions about Obama's past associations, but somehow it is perceived as hateful on the part of McCain and Palin to question these relationships--and not only hateful but racist(?) How is questioning his close association with William Ayers exhibiting racism? I fear that Obama will win by the fact that serious, legitimate concerns about him will not be raised until after he is elected, at which time he will be fair game. Until then, he's able to enjoy protected status. May God help us to elect the president we need, not the president we deserve.

I think we can all acknowledge that the McCain-Palin Rallies were bordering on, if not actually entering the territory of race baiting. That said, you cannot blame a man who lived through the horrible consequences of such a thing once upon a shameful time in America for reacting the way he has. We must take seriously the cries of "Traitor! Terrorist! Kill him!" Or the shame might be on us.

I think we can all acknowledge that the McCain-Palin Rallies were bordering on, if not actually entering the territory of race baiting. That said, you cannot blame a man who lived through the horrible consequences of such a thing once upon a shameful time in America for reacting the way he has. We must take seriously the cries of "Traitor! Terrorist! Kill him!" Or the shame might be on us.

McCain/Palin have run the most negative campaign in recent history........and Palin I do truly believe is a RACIST. The GOP is dying, if not dead. In recent day's I have become amazed at the amount of crazy redneck racist's idiots that are rallying around McCain & Palin....Truly very scary! Go back to shooting moose! OBAMA/BIDEN 08

McCain admires John Lewis...That's both ironic and informative...McCain and Lewis have something in common...They have both made their reps based on huge events in the 60's...They have established and acheived certain status due to their respective roles during these turbulent times...They are also two men who reflect via outdated ideology....I respect Sen McCain and his contributions during the Cold War era...I respect Con. Lewis and his contributions to the Civil Rights era...At this point, America needs to establish a Foreign policy that's post-Cold War....We need to establish a social-economic policy that's post-Civil Rights...The reality is that these two men will always look backwards to the key moments that defined them...We're a country that needs to take a critical look forward...Obama brings is a fresh outlook to these areas...Obama's father was from Kenya. That's a HUGE factor in his success. There is not a Black American ANYWHERE who could be where Obama is today - on the threshold of POTUS...He does not personally carry the burden/scars of a lineage that traces back to slavery in the US. Because of this, he will not intentially or unintentially make Whites feel uncomfortable about this part of America's past....Obama was also born in the 60's ...The Cold War ended while he was in college...Obama will not be looking into anyone's eyes and seeing "the initials K.G.B"...That is also a plus...Barack Obama may not be "post racial" but he's post-60's..That's one page that we definitely need to turn...

derision leads me to now use the Palin name as a verb ... as in "just call me that Palinator" when expressing an extreme reaction to a rather innocuous situation ... there is no way that their 'fire' will be more than a joke in this part of the world ...

Nice of you to bleep out the n-word there, Daisy Mae. Far be it from the likes of you to say anything the least bit indelicate. I'm not bound by such scruples, so I'll just come out and say it -- eternal damnation is too good for bigots for you, but unfortunately we are governed by a just God. See you in hell.

Come together?
What a line of bs coming from someone who sympathizes with both domestic and islamic terrorists.
Lewis has turned into a racist old scumbag not much better than the folks who beat him. And Obama uses that.

Frederik- Dr. King and George Wallace are not the same people at all. King loved all peoples, he just challenged them to live better lives and become more accepting of people. Wallace took advantage of a societal problem for political purposes and knowingly created a divide. The difference is King ultimately tried to bring people together, just like Obama, but had to use forceful words in order to bring about the truth. Wallace knowingly fought for divisions in society out for political gain. just like John McCain.
I'm a proud GOP member and I'm ashamed you said that. I'm tired of people like you destroying our core beliefs.

The Republican smear campaign is viscerally offensive to me, but I do not think it is racist...yet. I do not believe John Lewis said they were rascist either; he said McCain and Palin are creating an atmosphere of hate and fear that is LIKE what George Wallace created. Key word "like". Associating McCain and Palin with a racist, is tantamount to associating Obama with a terrorist---it does not mean they espouse the ideals of who they are associated with. What has happened is breakdown in civil discourse, not an uprising of racism...yet.

Thank you, Congressman Lewis. Remembering the stench of those times you speak of, the odor never leaves the memory. It was a shameful time in our history and any hint of a repeat should be halted at the first sign. We know politics make people say and do anything, but such incendiary remarks do nothing but move us backward to fear and hate. Thank you for standing up -- once again.

KansasGirl, do you even know what a freaking Marxist is? I doubt it, since apparently you can't recognize a racist when you see one, and Marxists are ever so much more devious. (That's a fancy word for "sneaky.")

Since McCain and Palin instigated it in the first place. Even made the riff-raff behavior acceptable, I give him no credit at all.
John McCain hasn't just sold his soul. He's sold his brain. He's mortgaged whatever honor and reputation he ever had, and foreclosure proceedings have commenced.
Shouting "Terrorist" and "Kill Him" does not show anger at the economy and reform of government. It shows PURE HATRED OF OBAMA.
This is UNACCEPTABLE and the McCain Campaign should be condemning instead they fueled it. How disgraceful.

The last resort of all Failing Republican Campaigns are the Right Wing Looneys! Sure Republicans are mad, they are waking up from a long peaceful Bush slumber, to find two morons McCain/Palin, with a disturbing megalomaniac love affair with themselves, out of touch with our Nations true issues, and running a revolting Smear and Fear campaign! That's a tough wake up call, "MY FRIENDS"!
The McCain solution is an Ignorant Slang Talking Power Abusing Junk Yard Dog Palin scrambling around the Nation drumming up Racist Bigotry to smokescreen the obvious inept incompetence of the McCain/Palin campaign! Americans face the hardest financial disaster in the History of the USA, this is your idea of Change! John McCain / Sarah Palin have no idea what Americans trying to survive face. 401K plans gutted, Unemployment, Foreclosures, and the Global Economy in disarray...
McCain/Palin are a disgusting self serving disgrace. Clearly proving they are not up to the complex task of keeping the Nation together in hard times.
P.S. McCain, please do not come back here to Arizona.

During the past week, a cousin of Barack Obama had an American author,
who has been critical of Obama, deported from Kenya.
Doesn't Obama believe in freedom of speech? Or does this right only apply to those members of the US media that are registered Democrats & Obama supporters.
Kim Elton & Hollis French, the leaders in the troopergate inquiry are both registered Democrats & openly support Obama. I don't think Obama got his moneys worth.
Neither did the taxpayers of Alaska.

Brazen, yes. Baseless, no. I was older than 8 when I saw the white teeth of police dogs sink into Black flesh. I was maybe 12 or 13 and it's an image and feeling that has never left me. I remember George Wallace; I remember being called a "****** lover." I'm 60 now. I have no forgiveness in my heart for hate mongerers of any ilk.
I'm glad see that Lewis didn't withdraw his statements at McCain's behest. Lewis called it right. And no matter how McCain may now back pedal or tone down his rhetoric, he has unleashed the beast of hate mongering and racism. Shame on him.

When has it become hateful to question why a candidate for President of the U.S. would aline himself with a self proclaimed unrepentent terrorist against his own country? If he may be my next President, Senator Obama needs to anser this question.

The really amusing thing is that neither Obama or Lewis accused McCain of playing the race card or being racist. And here hundreds of right-wing bloggers are quickly defending themselves: "Republicans are not against Obama because of his skin color...."

John McCain says that he is saddened by Rep. Lewis comments. Even when he was "defending" Obama after the woman in Minnesota called him Arab, he stated "No Ma'am, he is a decent family man, citizen..." like Obama would not be either a decent family man or a decent citizen if he were to be an Arab-American. And now he is upset and wants Obama to condemn Rep. Lewis for calling him on his hatred-filled campaign rhetoric

I have met Rep. Lewis, and he is neither oppurtunistic nor is he a has been. John Lewis is the emboddiment of Roosevelt's talk small and carry a big stick personna and is the most genuine person I have ever met. I admire him above all other heads of state. This is a man who would prefer to speak with a young, impressionable child about her drawings over any photo opp or media limelight. I believe now as I always have, that if John Lewis finds it significant enough to speak out against, than we all should take heed and pay attention!

Is da facts was very ethnic of you Fredrick. The fact is that is McCain is trying to give the impression that Obama is a partner of terrorists, which is far from the truth. McCain knows that some Americans have adopted this new fear of certain culture groups and he has stoke that fear and associated it with Obama. I wonder if our statesmen project these types of images of Americans to our Global neighbors to fear us if we don't get what we want. 95% of terrorists attacks are provoke rather than just random.

This past week I've watched in horror at the anger and racism at the McCain/Palin rallies, the Archie Bunkers lined up on the sidewalk spewing hatred, violent shouts of "kill him!" from the audience, the guy who was carrying a monkey doll with an Obama sticker, the grown men almost in tears at the thought of a black man becoming President, and the repugnant idiots who spin the Republican talking points on cable news (Obama's a terrorist - he is! he is! And I'm an idiot, I am, I am!). Isn't it the ultimate irony that McCain and Palin love to talk about our "brave troops" overseas, many of whom are African American and every other race and color imaginable. Some of those troops are going to vote for Obama. So are they saying our troops are backing a "known terrorist"? I recall Obama playing some basketball with those same troops on his world tour. Should they be court-martialed for playing basketball with a "known terrorist"? Where does this madness stop? What about the world leaders who actually enjoyed meeting Obama? Are they terrorists? George Bush invited Obama to the White House a few weeks back to discuss the bail-out. Why did George Bush invited a "known terrorist" to sit with him? Why are the Secret Service agents protecting this "known terrorist"? I mean - Good Lord! Lewis just put into clear words what most Americans are thinking, and about time!

just face it the world we live in will never be civil all this hate in the world no one can really see what is going on who really gives a damn! the world is going to hell and it is sad to see all this going on do you really think that these two men can fix what is wrong with the world i think not.look around and you tell me one man can fix all this hahah thats funny

Not sure if McCain is being too attacking but obviously he is acting like an underdog. But no way is he or Palin being racial, that part is just dumb comments from defensive Democrats that are being too sensitive and take anything said about Oas racial. Will this be the theme for the next 4 years if Obama wins?

Where have you all been? Have you heard the things Obama supporters call female Democrats that won't him?
Racist b***ch....heard it several times in Denver and as recently as last week. Obama supporters are much worse. One such supporter lied and sicced the Secret Service on a lady who told an Obama volunteer she didn't and wouldn't support him. The volunteer said the lady said she was going to kill Obama...Good Lord....they have been horrible all through the primaries and worse now....nasty little things....such as I hope you and your kids are happy....and the name calling by Obama supporters has been and is beyond pale!

I am horrified to see that Palin has been found guilty of ethics violations. As a democrat, and voting for Obama, I say this because it just confirms my own beliefs that she was chosen simply because she was a woman and McCain used her to "try" to get Hillary's votes. Hillary Clinton she is Not. At first I was surprised to see her allow herself to be used so blatantly, but since we now see how she operates, well.....self serving interests are a son of a gun, and we all now your average soccer mom's can be just as scheming and conniving as the most devious politicians and if you don't think people believe that watch an episode of Desperate Housewives, she'd fit right in!

to: Nancy Armstrong.....read your post, have a question for you. Are you DELUSIONAL???? The McCain/Paling campaigned has been tagged as the most negative in HISTORY. Even conservatives in the GOP are staying clear. Face it, it?s over! 8 years of puppet head, (my pet name for Bush) and this country is in the worst shape since the 30?s. Someone should put a cork in Palin?s mouth, as she is the biggest RACIST REDNECK out there speaking. I would say send her away, put hell the moose hunting loon doesn?t have a passport! OBAMA/BIDEN 08
GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-0

I wouldn't worry too much about the dribble from the two digit I.Q. republicons, they are so frightened about their corrupt future they can't think, not that they are too good at it anyway. They are just spouting all this B.S. trying to convince themselves that they haven't brought all this on to themselves. Funny we all know who started this so called race issue but according to the right wingnuts it is/was the democrats. And we also know who started campaigning for "time for a change", but according to the wingnut party it was them. I'm from Wa. {liberal to the end} state, and you right to workers don't need to keep trying to move here just because your great leaders have put you all out of work. Anyway the point I was making is that one of your brave and patriotic representitives who is running for governor is refusing to indentify himself in any way as a republicon, he preferrs the G.O.P. {Gaggle of Pirates?} party, trying very hard to hide who he is. So you moral majority , of which you are neither, keep telling yourselves that John "P.O.W." McLame is going to pull this one out even now, with Yukon Barbies help. But you might want to think about how the rest of the country has put up with your brand of politics for most of the last three decades and if the vote says it is time for us to have a say, and you try to force your point of view on us like you try to do with abortion clinics, we might just be able to show our own brand of frustration, just like you are threatening to do with your nasty little campaigning tricks and lies. One more point, remember terrorist is a subjective word, one side says "terrorist", and the other side might say "patriot. What would you call George Washington, Paul Revere, or Abraham Lincoln?

Why don't all we evil, racist, guilty white people agree to simply suspend the election altogether and CORONATE Barak Hussein Obama as KING?! Since nothing less will do to appease all those poor, oppressed black people who must be really in great health after living through four hundred years of slavery, sixty years of Jim Crow and sixty years of being harassed for driving while black! At the very least, we can save George Soros a couple of million dollars since he and other Marxist billionaires own the Democrat Party lock, stock and barrel.
John McCain, stop whining about Rep John Lewis' remarks; that's exactly what you deserve for pandering to the man all these years. To hell with YOUR presidential ambitions, he's got his own candidate to support.
As to the rest of you, I will NEVER vote for Barak Hussein Obama and his "Truth Squads" who want to prosecute people for telling the truth that this would-be president of ours hangs out with unrepentant Marxist terrorists and supports the election of a Kenyan candidate who likes to burn his opposition alive and the fact that he was born in Kenya, not Hawaii and therefore ineligible for the office. It will be a cold day in hell when I help elect a Mugabe Wannabe or import any kind of African politics to this country. The rest of you stupid white lemmings want to be necklaced for showing independent thought, so be it. Go to SouthAfricaSucks.com to see the future you're making possible for this country by pandering to these idiots.
Ninety-nine percent of black voters are voting for BO BECAUSE he's black, you want to call ME a racist? My response to that is so, what?!

This is not about hate or racism but about truth. Some of us who wanted to believe that Obama had the answers found out TOO much about what he stands for and who HE is. He is just not the right man for my values. I want someone who I can trust and his background would give anyone reason to step back and examine no matter what party you are!

This is what happens when a campaign (GOP) so shamelessly panders to the "low-information voter" - no longer a derogatory term but a characterization of the owrst elements in the American electorate. To continue on this path as McCain/Palin have done would endanger our nation even after the election. As a citizen, I beg and demand the McCain camp to stop this at once.

Here in Brazil they're thinking McCain/Palin are Nazis and that, if they win, the world is in BIG trouble. Nice huh? That's the image of the U.S.A. that is permeating the rest of the world. Congrats McCain/Palin, you've done America proud! Thank God there are a few brave souls left in the U.S.A. who call the Bush/McCain/Palin/GOP BS exactly what it is: dangerous, scary and racist.

The Republican rallies remind me of the NAZI Party bigoted Jew hating speaches by Hitler et all.Words comming out like Kill him, off with his head, terroist etc.The FOX, especially the Hannity, biggot so-called NEWS station with their bigoted comments do not help the situation.I doubt Sarah Palin has ever seen or met a African American black man till she came down to the lower 48 States.This woman is ignorant and as a John McCain Admirer i do not know for the life of me what he was thinking when he picked her as his running mate.He bettr put a gag over her mouth at his rallies because she is trying to incite racial riots.You can tell that her and her husband are bigots just by looking at them.I believe that the two bigots Hannity and the fat drug addict in Florida Rush Limbaugh are telling Sara Palin what to do. She is too stupid to think for herself.Hannity reciently had a anti -semite on his show and he seemed to agree with him 100%. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it is a duck. Hannity is a anti-semite and a bigot pushing Sarah Palin to say what she ignorantly says.

Oh I love how the Democrats race away from their own party's past. They still have a sitting Senator (Byrd) who was a KKK member. So run Democrates RUN, but you can't hide from the past. Justify your party in anyway you can. Democrates have always been synonymous with hippocrates?

Mr McCain should pull his head out from wherever it is stuck before harming the country. Is he so blind and deaf that when "hardly working Americans" who show up for his rallies shout "traitor", "kill him", etc. he does not repudiate that for 3 days. Who is he trying to kid? McCain is an irresponsible jerk.

I am tired of all the hate remarks which I hope will not lead to racists attack. America look at the candidates that are running for President or one can say King to run "America the Beautiful". I have been listening to both parties agendas without being prejudice or bias. With McCain/Palin I see division amongst them. With Obama/Biden I see unity even when they disagree. "How can two walk together unless they agree." I see McCain has his own agenda and Palin has her own agenda. Looking at them equals uncertainty and imbalance for me. Hopefully they can come together on one accord.

Whatever has happened in history cannot be altered. Sometimes I wish that there were a line, one side for the people who don't give a fig whether you are different in any way, and the other side who just can't play nice. I think that after all is said and done, the side with the people who don't give a fig if you are different will be so much larger that the other side might look around and reconsider. One side will be tradeing recipes while the other will be pulling each others hair out.

The Scarlet Letter
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter
Of the many thousands of articles, msm commentators, blogs and their comments I've read concerning this election most have skirted an issue of terrible proportions that few other than Mr. John Lewis, as highlighted by Mr. Jonathan Martin have dared to allude, much less explicitely state. This spectre is one which I believe most Americans of any sense of morality and history, Republican or Democrat who are following the McCain-Palin campaign, have dared to contemplate with horror.
The potential tragedy that Messrs Lewis and Martin are morally compelled to warn us is a tragedy which would consume us all in a spasmic national conflagration. This is the "fire" of which Mr. Lewis speaks, a fire that will burn the flesh from the national fabric. It is a tragedy being consciously gambled by an unethical woman and the spin witch doctors of a morally bankrupt campaign in the naked pursuit of power. Sarah Palin, with the explicit approval of John McCain has opened her own personal Pandora's box to proudly sew her own Scarlet Letter "A" upon her Republican chest for all the world to see. This Scarlet Letter was not that intended by our great American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, Adultery. It is a much more hidious A of a woman and her cohorts who deserve all our scorn for their open consortation with the Satan of the Political stage, that of raw personal ambition, to spawn the history changing Political "A" of infamy, regardless how deranged the waco with a gun or bomb may be.
JFK
MLK
Bobby Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
Julius Caesar
Truth
Integrity
Hope
Justice of, by and for the people of this great country of ours

In typical fashion, when any one challenges McCain they are a socialist or a terrorist!
I guarantee if someone at a McCain rally started chanting "No Ni**ers"
everyone including the one black guy there would join in. Never underestimate the madness of crowds.

Wallace was great, it's to bad because guess what, it's still lingers in this country and we have just shoved it under the carpet, we'll have to clean sometime, and this just might be the time, i believe there is more then you hear on t.v. that doesn't want OBAMA, and if the truth came out..because he's black.

McCain/Palin should be held accountable for their words and actions during any campaign speech.
Obama has to apologize for someone else s words while McCain/Palin use inflammatory words?
The American public is paying attention. That is why mccain/palin ticket is behind.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO DISAPPOINTED.
OBAMA IS NOT FIT!
OBAMA on WHITE people - his own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77cU3jsFs&feature=related
HOW OBAMA PLANS TO WEAKEN USA - his own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRBLi-Th4lk&feature=related
OBAMA on RACISM - his own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JlF7wzDh84&feature=related
OBAMA NO EXPERIENCE - his own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BnLozS-TnM&feature=related
MICHELLE OBAMA - not fit to be first lady - not proud to be American in her own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMlOKvTZcqM&feature=related
MICHELLE BASHES AMERICANS - her own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BogJvgdH6eo&feature=related
OBAMA AND ACORN relationship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p4inuSaO9M
OBAMAS MENTOR OF 20 YEARS - Rev. Jeremiah in his own words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tplfWnLe05M&feature=related

Mighty white of Mr Lewis to compare McCain to the DEMOCRAT Governor George Wallace. Should we call out Obama/Biden for being sexist because of some boos to Palin at a Philly hockay arena? The concerns of McCain supporters have nothing to do with race. They are concerned with the lack of character and lack of confidence in a confirmed liar, Mullah Obama.

MCCAIN AND POODLE BARBIE START THIS MESS YOU PEOPLE WANT TO HOLD OBAMA FOR WHAT SOMEONE DID WHEN HE WAS 8 YEARS OLD.THE REP. ARE PATHETIC, PITIFUL THIS WHY YOU LOSING. PEOPLE GET TRIED OF STUPIDTY FROM WHINER A@@ PEOPLE.OBAMA GOT HIS STUFF TOGETHER AND HE RUNNING THE BEST CAMPAIGN IN AMERICAN TIME.THE GOP CAN BRING AVERY. RENKO,WRIGHT OUT PEOPLE DON'T CARE IT NOT IMPORTANT. BUSH HAVE MESS THIS COUNTRY UP SO BAD IT'S REALLY SAD. AND YOU THINK PEOPLE WANT ANOTHER REP. FOOL IN THE WHITE HOUSE WITH UNQUALIFIED BETTY BOO TO RUN THIS COUNTRY YOU BETTER THINK ABOUT. MCCAIN AND PALIN BROUGHT THE EVIL BACK IN AMERICAN IT ON THEM TO FIX IT.

The discussion of John Lewis?s comparison of Senator McCain and Governor Wallace is interesting. I Grew up in the 1950s in Alabama, and I remember Governor Wallace quite well. Some people may not realize that Governor Wallace did not harbor personal hatred. In fact, he lost his first race for governor because his opponent played the race card, and thus many voters viewed Wallace as too weak on the race issue. In the next campaign Wallace took on states' rights (a code word for segregation) with vigor, and he was elected. He also rode the states' rights/segregation issue to some success in parts of the country that surprised many observers. Years later Wallace apologized for his actions; his apology was accepted by many black politicians in the South. I think Senator McCain?s situation is indeed similar. I do not believe that McCain harbors hatred in his heart. But, like Wallace, he appears willing to permit it to be used to render his opponent unacceptable. Certainly Governor Palin is willing to take advantage of hatred. One hopes that some day Senator McCain will see fit to apologize, as he did for using the Confederate flag issue in the 2000 race in South Carolina.

It is pitiful how Palin attacks Obama's past associations.
This comes from the Rhett Butler Palin family,who while a members of the Alaska Indepenedence party, adocated for the secession of Alaska. This isn't 1860 South Carolina. This is 2008. This election is about Judgement. If we want poor judgement, just keep Bush in office. Poor judgement in the Keating 5, Poor judgement in that watergate burglar G Gordon Liddy. Obviously McCain is of the ilk of government within the government. The very thing JFK warned about! McCain applauds Liddy. Calls this ex-con friend, after crapping on the constitution. Just like the Nazi's in ww2, I vas just following orders! Liddy, an ardent Hitler admirer calls McCain friend and likewise.Poor judgement in destroying 3 naval aircraft. Poor Judgment in choosing to primp out Hockey-mom Sarah Palin, because she's an attractive distraction that puts a pretty face on old poisonous ideas.
Poor judgement because he appears to be subconciously, looking for and rousing the right, wingnut, to commit some unspeakable act against Obama. He is disgustingly shamefull in his blatent grab for power. It should be no surprise this friendship with Liddy. If Palin was smart she would distance herself from this maniacal dinosaur, for her own political future.
McCain and Bush are so close in policy, they are one and the same. Hence, McCain/Bush. Which incidentally is a perfect anagram for Mabus. Ask Nostradamus.
http://www.squidoo.com/McCain_and_Gordon_Liddy

I just watched the most blatant display of rac_ist red neck group think from a gathering of cretins leaving a Palin-McCain Rally. They were so fired up on the hate and venom spewed at the McCain Rally that it is apparent Sen. McCain?s anger and hatred are extremely contagious elements of McCain?s character. McCain is creating ter_rorist-like followers from the misfits in the underbelly of America, just as Middle-Eastern extreme_ist create ter_rorist from disenchanted and hopeless Palestinians. Sen. McCain should be held responsible for inciting behavior characteristic of ter_rorist by manipulating these individual?s situation. It is a sad day for the American political process when Sen. McCain's uses campaign rallies to incite hat_red and hostility toward his opponent in his last ditch and desperate bid for the presidency. McCain?s activities designed to incite hat_red in voters for the gain of a few votes for his presidency is irresponsible and borders on the criminal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/09/mccain-palin-rally-attend_n_133240.html

Whoever agree or believe in Palin's experience, knowledge, is/must be the lowest rated person in America.why this? She lacks wisdom,way-word woman, robot-like,no-sense woman,who never think before she talk. her future political career is finished with this show of shame experience she exhibited in two or three of her rallies recently,proved to me that she is finished politically.She is empty. A contestant came in a rally to insinuate that a President to be is palling himself with terrorist,it is shame on you Palin. if such word come out from empty tin like you, what will you expect third world countries to call your President in time of misunderstanding in a meeting with international community?You Palin foolish.

I just wanted to let some of you Republicans know that most of us liberals don't blame you for what McCain and Palin are stirring up. We realize there is a lowest common denominator that is influenced by these things, and these people exist in both parties. This can be seen by some of the sensible comments posted here and other places by Republicans.
Regardless of party, there are people who will be incited to violence by the types of comments being repeated by Palin, and I'm afraid things will go too far for McCain to be able to pull this stampede back from the brink. We all know that these types of behaviors, and violence and racism in general, are made worse by a poor economy. Why don't we pull together against this possible outcome, and use this as a bipartisam (or multi-partisan) platform before it's too late and something terrible happens? This could really be a uniting force for the country in these difficult times ...

Wait a minute, when did Obama pull the race card? I have to ask, what do YOU think of when you hear the word "terrorist"? To me, I think 9/11. What do you think when you hear terrorist and Hussein in the same sentence? If this aren't the politics of hate, I don't know what is. It's a race card alright, but not the one your thinking of. It's a problem, a big problem, and we are seeing a mob mentality at these rallies. Have you been reading the blogs? People believe this crap.
Questionable associations on Obama's side? Maybe you should take a good hard look at your canidates. Both have been found to have violated ethics laws. That's a first for any campaign! Palin is connected to the AIP, not by a passing association, but by her husband and her own words!!! Rev Wright? Meet Rev Muthee!!! Get a grip people! Palin is dangerous and associates with terrorists who seek out IRAN's support!!!

i just read a thread where a repubican says'a few reps get out of hand and SUDDENLY we 're the party of hate" it isn't so sudden. have you been under a rock since the great depression sir? after Abe Lincoln you have always been the party of hate. you just suddenly realized it moron.

It is apparent the age, lack of knowledge of US history/civil rights movement, and upfront denial by most of the bloggers here. Lewis is right the hateful chants is walking a dangerous link. And no McCain did not step up an try to calm this supporters, until the he was samed by the Media. McCain lived during the Civil Rights movement and knows the dangers of overt Racism, this country is in a critical time Economically we don't need the racist rhetoric. The best man will win, it he has what the majority of the American people are looking for or if the GOP decides to hijack the election. Unfortunately since McCain doesn't have mainstream GOP support he may be on lifeline. Too bad Huckabee didn't muster up the support. Oh well

Actually Lewis is playing with fire. I am sick and tired of these Black racist trouble makers. They bring up race to get votes. Me, I am so turned off to all of Obama's friends, his wife and him I could vomit!!

I wonder what McCain's supporters will say if People in Obama's rallies had shouted - Kill kim! Terrorist!
I am sure they would have asked Obama to disqualify himself for condoning such hate and bigotory in his rallies. But because it came from McCain, it is considered as fair.
We don't know what we are doing to ourselves in the name of electioneering campaign. It will dawn on peace loving Americans what monster McCain and Palin has woken from its slumber in few months to come. I wonder how a man that can not control a rally of 5000 People hopes to control millions of Americans. If McCain allows anarchy and anarchists uncontrolable access to his rallies, I pray that peace does not take flight from America if he wins.

Mr. Lewis is right. This is not a movie. No one yells CUT at the of the scene. Just as a spark from a cigarette can ignite flames that burn thousands of acres, wiping out homes and lives in their paths, a word can incite a pea-brained idiot, justifying his or her misplaced hatred and anger. Mr. Lewis should not have to water down his comments.

The 50s all Over Again - I?m a 60 year old retired African American educator so I was a scared young kid in the North watching the ugliness that erupted in the South in the 50s on TV, the bombings, the dogs, the young black children walking through crowds spewing hate. As a child it scared me to death to be so hated for no reason, and as a child in front of the TV I cried, and last week watching the McCain rallies, hearing everything Palin was saying, I cried again and the fear and despair I felt as a child came back.

Why are people surprised that McCain would pull a publicity stunt instead of seriously vetting someone for his VP? Why are people surprised that he would run a negative campaign? This is a man who is remarkably unremarkable, who graduated at the bottom 5% of his class at the naval academy. John McCain wouldn't have even been admitted to the academy if not for the intercession of his famous father and grandfather on his behalf?both U.S. Navy Admirals. An unremarkable cadet, and an unremarkable officer he lost around five aircraft in his short stint as an unremarkable pilot. And now he is an unremarkable Senator. It only stands to reason that he would prove to be, if given the unfortunate chance, a remarkably unremarkable president. The real embarrassing thing is how unremarkable he is as a maverick!!
But think about it, seriously. How was John McCain ever to crawl out from the very long shadows of his remarkable father and remarkable grandfather unless he could go several links higher on the chain of command from his famous sire and grandsire by becoming "Commander in Chief?" It is more than a little ironic, and tragic, that his Oedipus complex would play itself out by running the sort of sleazy campaign that speaks directly to the type of disdain Admirals and Generals typically have for politicians like McCain.
The pathetic thing is how unremarkable he proved himself to be at something as fundamental as a husband?screwing around on his devoted wife with his current wife. Really, remarkably unremarkable. McCain did one remarkable thing in his life; he refused to allow the Viet Cong to use him for their propaganda machine by accepting an early release from their POW camp ahead of other POW's.
One heroic act, even several heroic acts does not a hero make. John McCain is no hero. Being a hero is a state of being, a lifestyle that carries one through a lifetime of honorable, courageous decisions. A true hero would have asked himself what was best for the country he purported to love when he picked a VP, picking her for her qualifications as potential president of the United States, rather than her ability to stir up the republican base so he could make a grab for power. A hero would not abandon his principles when he found himself sliding in the polls, becoming the stereotypical white man who decides, yet again, to play the race card by attempting to smear a black U.S. senator, making him out to be someone who hangs with terrorists because he, McCain, had this over keening need to prove something to his father by becoming president of the United States. In his heart of hearts he must know he is not suitable for that office.
John McCain is an ordinary man in a family of extraordinary men, but if he could have contented himself with being no one particularly special, then he could have been a decent enough fellow. He did one decent thing years ago and has been trying to coast on that one act of heroism ever since. Sorry Senator, but you are no hero. But you could be a hero again. Could there be anything more heroic than to admit one's own ordinariness? Admit, Senator McCain, that you do not have what it takes to be president of the United States. Do the heroic thing, humble yourself, send the Hockey Mom back to Alaska, and go back to the senate. Make up your mind to be the best senator you can be instead of a power-hungry politician.
This is your chance Senator to be a hero again. Take a cue from Ted Kennedy?a man who became an extraordinary senator by realizing he could not, did not need to be his brothers. There is your chance to redeem yourself Senator McCain before you end your political career as a Jesse Helms, a man who will be remembered as a odious, hateful little man who did more to divide America than unite it, as she labored under one of the worst financial crisis of her time.
Hero or detractor, it's your choice.

To all of you fools claiming that this is playing the race card, or that there aren't as many McCain supporters being hateful as the "liberal" media would claim there are:
Look up "The Sidewalk to Nowhere" on YouTube. Get a real look at who the people are that go to McCain's rallies.
This is not playing the race card. This is calling it as it is. These people are racist, nationalist fools who care more about keeping a black man with a funny name out of office than they care about who wins the election.
They're not pro-McCain. They're anti-Obama.

Personally, I am glad that McCain pointed out associations with the radical left. I can now understand where Obama would like to see the direction of our great country go. His mentors and friends would like to socialize the country. I think the government should run it all (banks, business, and healthcare)because it is more fair that way. Also, it is very european, which is cool. McCain is doing Obama a favor.

if this were any other race, and the two cadidates were white, this wouldn't be mentioned. I think John Lewis is racist... if barack obama were a white man from wherever, none of this garbage would be said. i've always said that anything mccain and palin say will be blown out of proportion and made to look like hate or whatever John is calling it. based on the facts, the only way obama can do what he wants with healthcare and no taxes and all that jazz is to inject more and more government, i dont want that... vote for mccain

the probolem is that the country is divided right now and that is "stoking hate and fear", McCain and Palin are only telling the truth because the far left media is covering up the facts that will help voters make the correct and responsible decision on Nov. 4th. This nomination is not about electing a democrat vs republican, it's about a free democracy vs socialism, that's how far left some people have gone.

I agree with McCain that this was a partisan attack, and that it's intent is to distract from Obama's relations with known terrorists, marxists and radical left wing groups that spout hatred of America and Americans, hatred of white people and are constantly at odds with mainstream America. Shame on the media for hiding the truth about this dangerous man and constantly siding against John McCain who has a very good record as far as politicians go. Obama and the Democrat party are the ones raising Race and an issue, Obama supporters are the ones making hatefull comments, dead threats and making up stories about Palin and McCain in attempt to destroy their character in the public's eyes. McCain's claims against Obama and Biden are all a matter of public record and it' about time the country learn about what this mystery man out of nowhere is really all about before it's too late.